


The Small Rock (That Changed Everything)

by Dankuser



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Earth, F/F, F/M, Space Battles, Spaceships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:48:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 29,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24562630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dankuser/pseuds/Dankuser
Summary: The Galactic Empire has discovered a rare multi biome planet, with a population made up entirely of humans. But these humans are waiting for them, and are adept at defending themselves.
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Male Character
Comments: 1
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Disney this is Fanfiction and I get no profit from it. Please don’t sue me.  
Join my discord at https://discord.gg/N76H7Zx 

Prologue 

July 24, 1951, Somewhere in central Nevada.

A truck drove down a remote road in the middle of Nevada. It was a versatile GMC CCKW, one of many built for the war and still in service. Driving the truck was Lt. Commander Gerry Urding of the United States Air Force, and sitting next to him was Sergeant Ione Kenny. They had both been dispatched to investigate a strange object detected on radars. Some people had even reported a strange object flying last night. As far as either of them knew, It wasn’t America.

“Are we almost there sir?” Asked Kenny tiredly.

“Should be a few minutes” Replied Urding, also tiredly.  
“I think I see something. Whatever it is, it looks strange.” Said Kenny.

The truck stopped a bit in front of the object. It was a large discus shaped thing a good 80 feet or so long. Something that looked like a cockpit protruded from the center. There appeared to be some sort of hole on one side of it. A small device that looked like a gun was on the top. It looked like the hole was some type of damage and not supposed to be there. 

“It doesn’t look like a plane.” Urging stated matter of factly.  
“We should take a look inside. That should tell us more.” Kenny said.

“This looks like a door. But I don’t know how to open it.” Observed Kenny.  
“Let’s go through that hole.”  
The two crept in the hole, the sargent going first with his M1 Garand ready. Urding followed with his 1911 drawn. The inside of whatever this has happened to be relatively clean, but not in a way either of the two were familiar with. They saw several screens that looked like small movie screens. They didn’t stop to look at those that much, what everything was, it was large. There was writing in both english and other languages with letters he didn’t recognize. They found a dead human as well. He wasn’t wearing any military uniform that any of them knew. Suddenly, Kenny gasped. There was a large furry object that appeared to be somewhat humanoid. “What the hell is that!”

The vessel eventually known as the Rough Rider was an old smugglers ship that escaped the Republic’s Judicial Forces by plotting an unsafe course through a hyperspace lane that had been direct for centuries. The lane hadn’t been the same as the navicomputer said it was (which hadn’t been safe to begin with), and a small hull breach had formed due to a small asteroid. The crew hadn’t reacted as fast as they could have, and died due to a failure of environmental systems. After 6 hours, with no movement inside the ship, the computer automatedly left hyperspace at the nearest habitable planet on the lane. It was not truly known why Earth was so close to the hyperspace lane. After several months of analysis, the ship was discreetly flown to Area 51, where it was to be analyzed even more. As time went on, more similar incidents occurred and not just in the US, and it was also shown that other vessels had crashed and not been discovered, at least to the understanding of the US government. Knowledge of extraterrestrial activity was to be kept absolutely secret. 

Eventually, other incidents occurred in several countries. After years of tireless work by NATO managed to reverse engineer this alien technology and the first locally built hyperdrive was finished in 1975. By now a large group of nations had contributed to the development of space technology and had knowledge of the galaxy at large.. All of these countries were allied to America and worked in cooperation with each other, with the exception of the Soviet Union and East Germany. (East Germany, being a client state, never contributed significantly and only had one small sublight exploration vessel by the time of German reunification.) These countries,Allied to the United States consisted of: The United Kingdom, France, Canada, West Germany, Italy, Australia and Japan. Later South Korea and India would join America. After the Cold War ended, Russia would keep all of its assets (Ukraine and Kazakhstan sold off assets they were to be given in exchange for economic aid from Russia). Russia begrudgingly cooperated with the Americans, though there were disagreements. China also had a similar story with and also developed similar technologies, but like Russia’s they never were as advanced as the Americans. 

In 1992, the same year as the Naboo Crisis in the wider galaxy, (the events of episode 1). With the end of the Cold War the threat of these spaceships being used in an internal conflict on Earth was minimal. With the galaxy becoming increasingly volatile, the various space faring nations saw that defense of Earth from a potential invader as a priority. With many of the countries prominent members of the United Nations, a secret branch of the UN was created; the UN Extraplanetary Council. The various small independent forces were merged afterwards. An expansion of military forces was prioritized, but it was hampered due to the need to keep secret (as no information regarding any of this was available to the public.) However, by the time of this story, the combined nations of Earth still possessed potent defenses. 

A brief conversion of events 

Gregorian Calendar Major Events in Galactic History Before Battle of Yavin events in the galaxy

1992 Naboo crisis 32 BBY  
2002 Start of the Clone Wars 22 BBY  
2005 First Galactic Empire formed 19 BBY  
2024 Battle of Yavin 0 BBY

(The events of A New Hope and therefore the Battle of Yavin, will take place about a month before this story begins.)  
Authors note: First real chapter is coming in a few days.


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> join my discord at https://discord.gg/KfWsuTf

March 5th, 2016

A tired teenage man stared at the window, his eyes staring noncommittally at the stars. He was William Johnson, a 16 year old resident of Tallahassee, Florida. It had been a long day filled with schoolwork, friends, video games, internet memes, and most importantly fun. It was close to 11 pm and about time to turn in for the night. William, or Will was a smart and fairly popular student. He consistently scored high marks and took several honors classes. While Will was on good terms with many of the students, he preferred to hang out with a smaller, closer nit friend group. His parents both worked as executives for a large company, and were often gone for several days on end. This didn't bother Will. His parents fully trusted him to be responsible and do what needed to be done. He knew he had a good life, better than many of the other kids at the school. He was also a good person, and didn't brag about his status or accomplishments.

Right as he was about to go up for bed, a car pulled into the driveway. "That's confusing." He thought to himself. A suit clad man stepped out. Perhaps it was a business friend. "But why would they come at this hour?" All of a sudden, the doorbell rang and William was faced with a choice.

William slowly and nervously opened the door. "What can I do for you, Sir," He inquired politely.

"Am I speaking to William Johnson."

"Yes Sir, that is me. Do you have business here?"

"In fact I do. If you would perhaps let me in, I'd be willing to discuss an offer for you."

Will wondered what this offer was. Was this man trying to recruit him for a criminal organization? Or to be a special agent? The possibilities were endless, but Will knew he would find out in time.

The two of them proceeded to sit in the living room.

"So what is this offer?"

"William, there are some very powerful people who have been watching you."

"Is this a good or bad thing?" Will knew his parents had connections. He had some idea how far they extended, but he wasn't sure what this man meant."

"These people, they know how to suppress people as well. So what I tell you here stays here, is that understood."

"Yes sir."

"It might be shocking, but Earth is just one small planet in a galaxy of other planets. Many even have humans on them."

"That's shocking, but I can see that it could happen," William replied. Was this some elaborate scam?

"Not all of these other planets have our best interests at heart."

"Well I'm sure they don't, they have their own interests."

The man chuckled. "Well yes. But there is reason to believe that if Earth is discovered, that we will be invaded and occupied. One of the things we know about you is your potential future. To be specific, we have an idea of your potential career choices. In short, we understand that you considered the military. Perhaps as an officer."

"Yes, I guess you are correct. One question, how much do you actually know about me."

"Me personally not that much." He admitted. "I don't do the investigation. We have people for that. Let's just say that all we wanted to know about you related to your skills and abilities, and if you would be interested in this program. You came out as a strong candidate in many regards. Due to this, you would be automatically moved to our list for officer's school. As far as I understand, you already have a place there "

"

This was a big decision. Will knew that he should probably think critically about it. But the words came to his mouth before he could properly think about it.

"Yes. I'm in."

"Alright, good. You will be picked up in exactly 3 days. I will forward you more information by email. Don't try to leak it. We promise it won't end well for you."

"What about my family."  
"Family is always an issue, as you probably might not see them again, or at least as long as this organization is kept secret. Let's just say that some of the connections that they have will inform them of the situation. They will understand."

"Do my parents know?"

"Not directly, they know that there are programs where people such as you are greatly valued. I'm sure you have many questions, but they will have to wait. I'm afraid that I must be going."

"I don't think I caught your name."

"It's Miles Carda."

"Thank you, Mr. Carda." William led him to the door.

"Your welcome. I'm glad you joined." The door shut and the car drove off.

In Williams's head, he was wondering if he had made the right decision by joining. Because if he didn't, there was to be no going back.

Author's note: first real chapter, yay. if you want to talk to me, join my discord.


	3. Chapter 3

Cadet Johnson listened intently from his seat. It was his graduation from officers school already. Around him sat less than 40 other cadets from around the world, all spotless in their finest dress uniforms. They were probably wondering some variation of that same thought. This was definitely a day he would remember.

Manpower would always be an issue for the fleet. Recruitment was difficult, as taking too many people would draw questions as to why they were gone. This of course made the standards very high, and therefore the quality of men and women who graduated was as well. About 500 enlisted would graduate this year as well, and this was a record high. In fact, Earth could produce significantly more starships than they could crew. The manpower shortage would be a problem if conflict arose, but if the secrets of this fleet were to be revealed, this would become irrelevant. There were plenty of people on earth who could be trained to operate a Starship. Maybe not perfectly, but they could. 

He watched the group of Admirals at the front of the room. Some of the Rear Admirals were as young as their late 30’s, which would be very difficult for most ocean based navies of Earth. But the number of qualified senior officers was limited, with the fleet growing rapidly as time went on. 

“Braun Abel.” Called Admiral Paul Harrington, the instructor of the Academy. He was the one in charge of the ceremony, and tall with broad shoulders. His normal stone face was now a broad smile. Proud of his once students. Abel was one of Johnson’s friends, a Dutchman with a family of sailors and naval officers. He was a good student, in fact the 4th in the class. 

“With all of these accomplishments, you will be posted as a helmsman aboard the frigate Sendai, 2nd Lieutenant Braun Abel. It was one of the several Japanese operated ships. Almost all of the ships in the fleet were of a unified design, but ships were generally operated by different nationalities based on the number of personnel from each nation respectively. Nevertheless, crews were usually a mixture of nationalities, which was meant to override the meaning of national boundaries on Earth and foster a sense of comradery, regardless of nation. It seemed to work.

They were almost done, William wasn’t sure if he should like it or not. There was definitely excitement in him; a motivation to get on. But he also liked the close knit community. It was nice to have such a small class. 

Next was Alison Chipper. The petite blond that occupied every one the male cadets at one point or another. But she was far from just looks. She had struck for engineering, and from what Johnson understood, she was quite good at it. He caught himself staring as Admiral Harrington spoke about her skill in Engineering, and across the board. Women weren’t an insignificant portion of the fleet. After all, most of the men might never return on Earth except for a visit to one of a few bases there. And being in space didn’t stop hormones or human emotions, so women would be needed. 

But they didn’t just pick women to be sexual objects. The girls who were recruited were certainly smart people. The fleet needed the best people. They were picked for their skills and dedication, rather than looks or appeal. But their looks and appeal certainly would be a useful side effect. 

“2nd Lieutenant Chipper, for your exemplary record here, you will be assigned to the flagship of the fleet, UNS William Halsey, as 2nd reactor leader.” Clapping and a few cheers began barely as the last words left his mouth. 

The next person was a short Russian male by the name of Alexandr Morovava. He got posted to one of the corvettes as a comm officer. Johnson half listened, even though he knew he should. He admired and respected them. He knew their accomplishments. But at the end of the day, it was still a lot to take in. 40 speeches by Admiral Harrington. But they were almost done.

And with the feeling of fear, excitement, pride and a total lack of regret he realized he was next. And first in the class. He had known on paper that he was for several days. But now it really hit him. All of the hard work, all of the time he could have spent with friends or resting, paid off. Granted, he still had time with friends, and he had still rested. But less than others. He didn’t regret it though. The feeling once it was done was no different less than amazing. William walked up to the podium when his name was called. The clapping and cheers were not insignificant. 

Harrington smiled and spoke about him. Like he had thought before, he already knew what the Admiral meant. But all the same it was nice to hear. What he was really excited about was his posting. 

“And with your impressive accomplishments here at the academy, you will be assigned as a junior gunnery officer aboard the flagship, the UNS William Halsey. The cheering was deafening, and from now on, William Johnson would remember this moment as one of his finest.

But it was certainly not the last fine moment of his life.


	4. Chapter 3

March 17th, 2024  
The Imperial probe droid traveled through the UDAJ-17 sector. It was a relatively quiet and remote sector, with few habitable planets, and even fewer one with intelligent life. Most of these ones with life were clustered closer to the galactic core, and had a small Imperial presence. Of course, they we’re far from the core, but closer relative to the planets this droid was exploring.

The probe’s long range sensors picked up something. It was a planet with intelligent life. And not primitive life, but somewhat advanced life. Not as advanced as the Empire or the rest of the galaxy, but advanced nonetheless. They hadn’t discovered faster than light travel or significant numbers of spacefaring craft, other than a few interplanetary expiration vessels and orbital satellites. They had discovered nuclear power about 70 years ago, and proper digital databases 30 years ago. Their planet, Terra, had many different biomes. A rare sight in a sea of single biome planets that dominated the galaxy. But most importantly, the planet seemed to be populated by humans exclusively. That would be beneficial to the Empire. He began transmitting back to his mothership, the Star Destroyer Impassable. 

June 26th, 2024

“This is not a drill. All personnel are to report to their action stations. All senior officers report to the bridge immediately.”

Lieutenant Commander William Johnson was awoken to the general quarters alarm. It was an alert for all peronsell to head to their battle stations. Something that he had been trained to respond to, as had everyone else in the fleet. He put his uniform on faster than many people could get out of bed. As he opened the door, he caught a glimpse of other officers and enlisted personnel rushing to their stations. He rushed to the bridge quickly. Being the Halsey’s chief gunnery officer, he would be needed on the bridge whatever was happening. It had only been 4 years since he had graduated, and such a position on the flagship of the fleet was a massive achievement for an officer this young. But with the recent expansion of the fleet meaning that officers in such a position were generally given a command of their own. He had only held the position for 2 months, but had proven himself capable in such a position.

He entered the bridge as other officers as Admiral Theodore Hawkins ushered the senior officers to the briefing room. He was flanked by the ship's commanding officer, Captain Vermont Peterson. Rumors had it that she was the Admiral’s mistress, but these reports were unconfirmed gossip in Johnson’s opinion. It certainly wasn’t something he dwelled on, or cared about in the slightest. It didn’t interfere with the operation of the ship, for all he knew. There were many more important matters, including whatever the hell was going on now.

In less than a minute, all of the ship’s senior officers were present in the room.   
“I’m sorry to wake you at such an hour, but we have reports that an Imperial taskforce has been picked up by the long range sensors of our outermost stations. It consists of one Star Destroyer, two Vindicator class cruisers, 4 Nebulon B frigates, and 4 Arquitens class command cruisers. There are also 16 assorted Raider and Vigil class corvettes. They are headed straight for Earth and will be there in about an hour. We’ve received word from the Admiralty. They have ordered us, and the rest of First Fleet to go to Earth. We will be joined by every vessel, from cruisers to science vessels and transports and to sit by Earth. Hopefully cooler heads will prevail and we can scare the Imperials into taking. But if not, we will not hesitate to use whatever force is necessary to protect ourselves and every one of the 7 billion souls in this world. Report to your stations now. Good luck.”

William bustled off to his station. It was the ship’s main fire control center, behind the vessel’s primary weapon. This weapon was a massive bow mounted turbolaser cannon. It was the largest ship borne weapon on any of the fleet’s ships. Several guns resting remotely on earth were bigger, and some more were mounted on far flung star systems controlled by Earth. William Halsey has other powerful weapons as well. These included 16 dual heavy turbolaser turrets clustered on the ship’s nearly 600 meter hull. Four could face forward and another four aft, with eight of these also able to face port and another 8 starboard. While not as powerful as the main gun, they certainly packed a punch. There were 24 light quick firing turbolasers, and 36 laser cannons for anti fighter and missile defense. The ship also carried a number of missiles, from small ones for point defense to several massive anti ship ones. The ship might be formidable, but how it would stand up in combat was still an unknown. 

He arrived rapidly at the fire control. It wasn’t far from the bridge. The various officers and enlisted personnel saluted him. They had all been briefed as well on what was going to happen.   
“Are the batteries ready for action, Mr. Surrey.”   
“Yes sir, nothing to report.” Answered the British executive gunnery officer.  
“Good. Keep us ready for action. We’re going to need to be ready for action.”

Star Destroyer Impassable 

Rear Admiral Doreing Ketchdown stood proudly on the bridge of his flagship, the Impassable. He had only recently been promoted and his fleet wasn't much of a fighting force, at least by Imperial standards. Ketchdown was sure that this would be an easy assignment. One that would look good when a promotion would be considered for him. There wouldn't be much, if any resistance. The planet still relied on primitive orbital satellites for communication. It was the backbone of their military apparatus as well. He might have to destroy a few cities, but that was nothing major. He kept his ship's powerful com scanner powered down to save energy, with only passive sensors active. It wouldn’t be necessary. 

This would be a mistake. A major mistake. As the Star Destroyer exited hyperspace, there was   
something off. 

“Admiral, we have contacts. They look to be starships. Over 50 of them. Some as big as cruisers, and they all look armed.”

Ketchdown was in disbelief. How could this have happened? The droid that had scanned the planet hadn’t found starships. There was also no report within the planet’s information network of such vessels. Perhaps they had been hiding outside the system. That would explain why there was no record of them. The probe had been at quite a distance; and its main priority had been picking up information about earth, so it might not have seen anything. 

This was a setback. But even if this had to be solved violently, they would still win. They had nothing to match his Impassable. Something In the back of his head told him that the rebellion had destroyed many ships of this size (and larger) with mere starfighters and light warships, similar to these. But like many Imperial commanders, he preferred to stick to what he knew, something that many would call ignorance. Perhaps a few corvettes and frigates would be destroyed, but they were irrelevant in Ketchlow’s opinion. Star Destroyers won battles, not mere gunships and fighters. 

His thoughts aside, the Imperial admiral was ready for action. “Open a channel. Broadcast to everything that will receive.”


	5. Chapter 5

Earth’s forces awaited on the far side of the moon, in order to avoid detection from both the incoming Imperial forces and planetside civilians. While the battle would inevitably reveal both the Empire and the Terran forces to the public, both the politicians and admirals of the fleet decided against revealing the fleet until absolutely necessary. All this would just create questions in a time that everyone would need to be focused on the upcoming confrontation. Besides, sitting hidden by the moon would afford them some form of protection. Maybe not enough, but it was worth a shot. 

All significant vessels had been mobilized, and while the forces might be ad-hoc, they weren’t insignificant. Two cruisers, the William Halsey, her sister ship, the Ernest King were the largest vessels in the fleet. Other significant warships were five destroyers and 16 frigates. There were also 21 corvettes and gunships, as well as 9 of the more well armed science and transport vessels. Additionally 96 starfighters from both the cruisers and a few hidden bases on the planet were ready to be engaged if necessary. A dozen hidden turbolasers would be ready on earth as well, all located in remote locations no one would think to look. Even though they might be in a disadvantage due to the presence of a Star Destroyer, the UN forces would not give up without a fight. 

“Admiral, we have contacts. It’s the Imperial fleet.” The ship’s sensor officer reported.   
“Do they see us?”  
“Not sure, but there is a high chance.”  
“Admiral, we're picking up a message from the Destroyer.”  
Put it though. Be prepared to respond.

“This is Admiral Ketchlow, of the Galactic Empire. The Empire has found this world suitable for our protection. I want this transition to take place smoothly and peacefully. This world is now under the jurisdiction of the Galactic Empire. We are broadcasting Imperial legal documents. Please familiarize yourself with these laws. Failure to cooperate will have serious consequences, that I think none of us want to go there. Of course I have to meet with the leaders of this planet, but I’m sure that should be no problem.”

Captain Peterson looked at Hawkins. “I assume we’re sticking to the plan.”  
“Yes, we’re sticking to it. That’s what the politicians told us to do,”

The Admiral cleared his throat and began to respond to the Imperial’s message.

“This is Admiral Hawkins of the United Nations Extraplanetary Space Defense Command, we know of your Empire. We are willing to discuss terms of an alliance with the Empire. However, we will not give our status as a sovereign planet. Nor will we be ruled by a government light years from us.”

“I asked you a question!” Bellowed Ketchlow angrily. “Do you approve of the charter I sent. And what of your government?”

“Admiral, I’ll spell it out here, since you cannot seem to understand what we just said.” There were a few smirks from the bridge. “We do not consent to those documents you have sent us. I already said that Earth is willing to negotiate. But if you do not wish to, we ask that you please leave this star system, as well as any of the ones we mark as our territory in a document I will send you. Like you said before, I’m sure that we both want to solve this peacefully!”

“This is your final warning you little brat!” Ketchlow was getting very infuriated by this tiny planet’s resistance. How could they just resist like that! The ship’s crew never resisted him. All the ladies never resisted him! (Though some deep recesses of his brain told him that they probably wanted to.) “Accept these demands, or I will blast your tiny ships out of this solar system!”

“He’s made his position clear. All ships, fire at will.” 

In the fire control center, Johnson heard the command over the loudspeaker. 

“You heard the Admiral. The main gun and the other heavy turbolasers will fire on that Star Destroyer. The lighter turbolasers will fire the frigates and corvettes. The light lasers will stand ready to engage any enemy fighters or other small craft.”

All around them the battle was raging as the various ships engaged each other. Most of the Terran ships were smaller and more agile, and their maneuvering made them hard to hit. 

Admiral Hawkins watched the fleets engaged from both the ship’s main window and his personal monitor. The Imperial fleet was mostly focused on his two cruisers and moving slowly. This left his smaller ships an opportunity to press an attack conservatively moving Imperials. Under his command, the various corvettes and frigates pushed an attack on the static Imperials. The cruisers and destroyers moved slowly, trading fire with Ketchlow’s ships. They couldn’t hold forever, but the Empire seemed to prioritize the larger targets.

The first of Earth’s starfighters we’re entering battle, and they seemed to be faring well against the Tie fighters. Several explosions registered on the computer screen as 3 of the Imperial corvettes were destroyed by 6 of his own. Supporting fire from one of the destroyers disabled one an Imperial frigate, though one of Earth’s frigates was also lost. A daring attack from 2 dozen starfighters took out a Vindicator class cruiser. That ship was as large as his own, and was destroyed in seconds by mere strike craft! He’d have to bring that up with the Admirality. He watched as another of Ketchlow’s corvette’s were destroyed by the gunnery of his own ship. It seemed to be very effective during the battle, and he’d have to personally commend Lieutenant Johnson after this was done.

“Good job men, and women. We might just make it through this day. This is probably giving the media planetside a field day!” There were a few chuckles. Hawkin’s sense of humor would not relent, even in the heat of battle.   
“Don’t get ahead of yourself Admiral, this is only the beginning!” Said Captain Peterson in a slightly quieter voice.”  
“Oh I won’t get ahead of myself. I’ll get ahead of those damn Imperials.”

“Sir the Supernova has been destroyed. There appear to be no survivors.” One of the Impasable’s bridge officers reported. 

“What is the meaning of this!” Ketchlow’s face was bright pink from rage. It was even pinker than the face he had worn when he first visited a gentleman’s club. “I want every gun in the fleet to fire on that flagship. That will teach them something about the Empire.”

“Understood, sir.” Reported the gunnery officer, as he relayed to order to his ship and the rest of the fleet.

“And get me the Tie Bombers. I want them to go to that planet and bomb something. I don’t care what, but it will send an even bigger message.”

“Sir, that might be unwise.” Said the ship’s executive officer (X.O) Commander Drofa Haffard. “The planet has extremely potent atmospheric air defenses. They might be primitive, but they are effective.”

“Shut up Commander, you opinion is not needed. The Admiral and I have this under control.” Captain Dole Made spat angrily. 

Commander Haffard was a young and relatively unassuming officer. But there was more about him than his demeanor. He was only a few years out of the prestigious Anaxes War College, perhaps the best Naval Academy in the galaxy. He was a skilled tactician, but what scared the captain and the Admiral about him was not that. It was the fact that he looked past the politics and red tape of the navy, and saw what was actually there. This was dangerous, for the navy was built on politics and red tape. It was something that another time would be called corruption. Something that members of the defunct Imperial senate would call out. The Senators who had been plotting the rebellion, perhaps since the new order had begun, could see. That made Haffard dangerous, but it made him a good officer.

And good officer we’re an inconvenience for the commanders. Especially corrupt ones.

The 12 Tie S/A bombers approach the lower Earth atmosphere.

“Alright. You all have your targets. Watch out for enemy aircraft….

A variety of sirens blared as dozens of air to air missiles approached the bombers from miles away. They had been launched from various aircraft sent to intercept them. All the ties fired flares but to no success. Less than a minute after they launched, the missiles hit their targets. 

There were no survivors for the 976th bomber squadron of the Imperial Navy.

As he watched from his monitor on the bridge, Haffard felt the urge to say “I told you so.” But he resisted the urge. 

“Sir, we can’t hold much longer. We can’t repel firepower of this magnitude.” The shield operator aboard the Halsey said desperately. 

“Bring us around. Maybe we can…”  
At that moment, a turbolaser blast obliterated the bridge, killing all of the crew and officers aboard the bridge. Several secondary explosions followed, killing more members of the crew and causing more damage.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

In the fire control center, sparks flew as the explosion reverberated across the ship. The room, along with much of the ship luck  
“What was that! Report!” Asked Johnson  
“Sir, the bridge is gone. There are multiple hull breaches, especially on decks 15 through 17. The main gun is fine, but we lost 4 of the mid heavy and 6 of the light turbolasers. I’m not sure if they can be repaired.” Lieutenant Surrey stammered.  
“Are there any survivors from the bridge?” William already knew what the answer probably was.   
“I don’t think so sir.”  
The Admiral had most likely been on the bridge. Along with the Captain and XO. That meant that he, William Johnson was in command of the ship. 

“Surrey, as of this moment you are the acting gunnery officer. Continue with the current firing sequence for now. Engineering is better suited to command of this ship. That’s where I’ll be going.”

“Very well sir, good luck. Replied Surrey.  
“Same to you. We’re all going to need luck.”

Once Johnson arrived at main engineering, he found enlisted personnel and junior officers working at stations in the control area. This was the second best place to command the ship from, and could be configured roughly similar to the bridge for ship control. In the middle stood the ship’s chief engineer, Lt. Commander Allison Chipper. 

“Commander, did any of the other senior officers survive?” He asked  
“I don’t think so, commander, except us.” She said with worry. “Even Garrett was there.” Garrett was a Major in the Marines and commanded the ship’s ground assault force.  
“Sir, the Ernest King has lost their main engines. They aren’t going anywhere.” A young officer, clearly inexperienced in his position reported. 

“Oh crap, now I’m in charge of this fleet.” Johnson said to himself. He knew that he could relinquish command to another senior officer. But doing so would take time away from fighting the battle. And the Imperials wouldn’t stop to let us reorganize command. Perhaps in another time during the battle, it would be possible. 

“Tell them to abandon ship, and get the fleet to retreat.” Johnson said, a newfound steadiness in him appearing.  
“They can still kill us there.” Chipper remarked.   
“That’s why I need to talk to the President of the United States. I have a feeling that Star Destroyer will just love a few thousand nukes.”  
“But those… Oh. That makes sense.” 

“Lieutenant, are you sure this is going to work.” Asked President Donaldo Rumf.   
“Mr. President, the engineering officer and I have gone over it several times. Their engines have already been damaged a bit. Most likely the nukes will not pierce the ventral armor, as it is very thick. But these destroyers require immense power to operate within a planet’s atmosphere. The gravity of such a planet is pulling down, and that ship is massive. Even a slight interruption of power supply in the ship will make it fall to its demise.”

“How many nukes do you need?”   
“500 should be enough, if that doesn’t work, throw everything at it.”  
“Good luck Lieutenant, were all counting on you.”

The outgunned forces of Earth retreated into the atmosphere of the planet. The Imperials were close behind, but the Terrans kept their about a kilometer distance away from them. The planetary defense turbolasers kept firing, mostly at the smaller Imperial corvettes and frigates. They were more vulnerable to the lasers than the heavily armored Destroyer. A single Vindicator class cruiser remained, but it had been hit by a concentrated force of planetary lasers and was limping behind. 

Earth’s starfighters had been very effective at not only fighting enemy Tie fighters but also Imperial warships. Since the battle had begun, one Vindicator and Nebulon-B, as well as 3 of the Raiders and 2 of the Vigils had been destroyed by them. They had sorted out several times to buy time and keep the Imperial’s out of range. 

But their goal had also been to move the Imperial fleet over the Midwest of America, where several major nuclear silos were located. However, there had been several issues with launching the Cold War era nukes. And the Imperial forces were driving them toThis would mean less time for the Imperial’s to react. 

“Sir, the nukes are being fired. They will impact on the Destroyer in 3 minutes.” It was the same nervous officer that had reported to him earlier.  
“Good. Maintain the current speed and course for now.” Will said.  
“Do you think this is going to work, Commander.” Asked Allison.   
“It needs to work. Our damaged ships will be easy target practice for the Empire.”  
“But even if this works, where will that ship go?”  
“We need it to go somewhere where it won’t shoot at us. Where that is doesn’t matter to me.” Will turned around. “Tell all our ships to fire their remaining missiles as well. The more impacts, the marrier.”

The Impassable

“Sir, we have contacts approaching. They appear to be primitive nuclear warheads, and will arrive in approximately 3 minutes.” A bridge officer reported from his station.   
Admiral Kectlow looked down at the man from his position above. These uncivilized humans thought they could use nuclear weapons against him. They were ancient weapons of mass destruction. But still thousands of years out of date. They couldn’t do anything against his shields, or the thick ventral armor of his ship.

“How many are there?” He asked.  
“500, sir.”

“Shoot them down.”   
“Sir this could be a problem.” It was commander Haffard again. “Our sublight propulsion is not currently the best. We are vulnerable. Those missiles might not penetrate, but they will take us down.”

“Commander, if you think that the ship is so vulnerabile, go to engineering and offer your assistance there.” Captain Made spat. He was getting annoyed.

Haffard compiled. But he suddenly had a devious idea. Not devious, but practical and rational. Haffard had no intention of going down with the ship. He was going to escape.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Only about a fifth of the missiles were shot down. The rest impacted the Destroyer and it’s escorts. This was added by the impact, seconds after, by guided proton torpedoes and concussion missiles from the fleet. Several smaller ships exploded or were heavily damaged. This was of the already dwindling numbers of smaller warships the Imperial fleet had. 

The Star Destroyer was the worst hit. Very few of the missiles penetrated it’s armor and shielding, but the massive kinetic impact caused a ship wide power failure. The vessel sat still for a second, but then began falling into the atmosphere. 

Cheers erupted throughout the ship, but suddenly stopped. The Destroyer had regained power and was heading east. It was still falling, but it had control of its direction. And suddenly everyone realized where it was heading. 

The Star Destroyer was heading for Washington DC.

Will realized his mistake. “We need it to go somewhere where it won’t shoot at us. Where that is doesn’t matter to me.” He realized how insensitive that comment was. Thinking like that was something an Imperial officer would do. 

But in his moment of realization, Will saw what he needed to do. 

“This is the Cruiser William Halsey. Any Imperial ship that surrenders now will not be fired upon. You will all be treated fairly and given a trial and a lawyer. Any that do not surrender will be fired upon and destroyed.”

“All ships destroy any Imperial vessel that does not comply with my orders.” He ordered the rest of the fleet.

Now Will turned his attention to his crew.  
“This is your captain speaking.” Will didn’t have the rank of captain, but being the commander of the ship, his position was of a captain. “Accelerate towards that Star Destroyer. After that, all hands are to abandon ship.”

“What are you doing! We can still fly!” It was Alison.   
“Lieutenant Chipper, I intend to ram that Destroyer. It’s course is clear and must be altered by whatever force is necessary.”  
“How are you going to command this ship all by yourself.”  
“We have droids and the ship's basic AI as well. I’m not going to do anything besides ram it. I don’t see any problem with that.”  
“But can’t they do it alone.”  
“I don’t want to risk it.”  
“But you’re going to die!”  
“It needs to be done. I wish it didn’t have to be this way, but if I let that Destroyer hit the capitol I would never live with myself.”  
“William.” This was the first time she had used his first name. “I really don’t want you to do this. Earth needs you. You have a lot of potential.”  
They were alone on the bridge now.   
“I wish we had more time. But Earth needs you. You have a lot of potential.” He said, turning her point against her.   
He was surprised when she embraced him. He had always shunned physical contact with even the closest members of his family. But even if he wouldn’t admit it, he genuinely liked the sensation of the touch.   
“Good luck.” She said as they parted.   
“Thank you?, uhh…” Will could somehow keep his cool when in the face of death, but was unsure of himself in intimate interactions with another human.  
“Thank me later, that is if you even survive.” She hurried out of the room, and Will turned around.”

The ship was already accelerating toward the Star Destroyer. There would be a couple of minutes until impact. Will had already come to peace with the fact he was probably going to die. There was a good chance that both ships would explode on impact, and even if that didn’t happen, the chances he would survive were slim. 

He wondered what his family would think? They had friends in high places and knew he was doing something important and secret.What would his old friends think when they learned what he had done? Would the Empire come back? Could they survive another attack?

The Impassable was falling. Slowly but surely, and heading towards Washington DC. If they were to go down, they would take thousands of lives and a few very important buildings with them. It was the least they could do for the emperor. 

Ketchlow was pacing the deck in distress. He could fathom why they had lost. They had the advantage. Perhaps this planet had the numbers, but they had a Star Destroyer! This wasn’t what the Imperial books had taught him. They said that a ship could only be threatened by a ship of near equal size. That fear could scare most enemies into compliance. That no one could be a threat to the Empire. 

He couldn’t fathom it. Any of it. Neither could Captain Dole Made. There were reports of escape pods being ejected, of deserters. His crew had not served him well. They had been ineffective at winning the battle for him and telling him the best course of action. They had also spoken up and offered their opinion as well. Many might see this as hypocritical, but Ketchlow was simply ignorant. 

He looked at Captain Made. He was obviously nervous as well. He was one of the few good men on the ship. He kept the crew mostly at bay and organized. It was not his fault that they were ineffective. It was the fault of practically insubordinate men such as Drofa Haffard. He walked up to him.   
“Captain, we should leave this place while we can.”  
“I have already prepped a shuttle for such an occasion. After you, Admiral.”

Lieutenant Commander Drofa Haffard ran through the lower decks of the destroyer. There was debris falling around him, some coming dangerously close. He finally reached his destination, one of the unguarded escape pods. Haffard saw another person there. It was a Junior Lieutenant, by the plack on his uniform. 

Lieutenant, I can see what you are trying to do. I am trying to do so as well. After all, there are two pods, if you do not intend on joining me.”

“I will go my own way sir,” The Lieutenant rapidly entered the escape pod. He seemed very nervous. At this point, Haffard didn’t care where that young officer went. He was done with the corruption, nepotism, and incompetence of the Empire. His commanding officers putting it bluntly, narcissistic, self interested buffoons. Perhaps, he would be treated well if he approached this planet’s government.

Lieutenant (junior grade) Adson Cadwell looked and acted like a normal low grade Imperial officer. However behind the disguise was Captain Udfer Jimenx of Rebel Alliance Intelligence. He had been on a long term deployment on this Destroyer for several months now. He planned to get off the ship undetected by either the ship itself or the Terran fleet. It would be difficult, but not impossible. It would require luck most of all. He looked at the map of the planet on his datapad, as well as the range of the escape pod. He saw a few deserted islands in the area these humans called the “caribbean”. He would then contact the Alliance and request a pickup. There was a chance he would be caught by the Terrans. He hadn’t had time to think about that yet. While on the ground he could draft up a report on these “terrans”. They were certainly fascinating, and intelligent.

William Johnson was strapped into the makeshift captains chair in Main Engineering. Halsey was rapidly gaining on the slow Star Destroyer. He had repositioned his ship to hit on the Star Destroyer’s port side. The impact would move the ship away from DC and somewhere into Delaware. Hopeful few, if any innocent lives would be lost. 

Will realized he had seconds to live now. The impact would probably kill him. If not, there was a good chance something would go boom and kill him as well. Will didn't want to die. But he fealt oddly at peace. He was doing his duty for his planet. That was what mattered.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 

Every day was important to humanity. Important things happened every day. Each day leads to bigger, more important events. Billions and billions of these events.

But there are some events that people truly remembered. Events that when they took place, people could remember where exactly they were at that time. 

For Americans, the fall of the Soviet Union, and more accurately 911 came the closest. For Russia, the fall of the Soviet Union was also somewhat similar.

But they all were dwarfed by the events of June 26th, 2024. 

There was little report of the Terran fleet by the media. It was barely detected, due to advanced protocols developed by the fleet to prevent such a detection. 

But when the Imperial fleet arrived the media had a literal field day. The Imperial broadcast wasn’t successfully broadcasted on most personal electronics, but new stations, social media, and general word of mouth allowed it to spread like wildfire.

Within 15 minutes of the conflict starting, all major social media and search engine websites had crashed. Over 2 billion people crammed in front of televisions or internet sites (ones they had been restored) to watch the battle. Some 3 billion people all across the world ended up watching or reading about it in real time. 

Despite reassurances from government officials to keep calm, not everyone followed that suggestion. Some panicked and tried to stock up on food and other essentials, only to find out that others had the same idea. Others readied guns and other weapons in preparation for a struggle to defend their homes. 

With news of the Impassable headed for Washington DC, the American capitol was evacuated, but luckily the Destroyer did not impact there. It impacted on a desolate field in Delaware, with only four casualties reported, a small family of 4 in their house. 

The Star Destroyer remained relatively intact, as well as the Halsey. Medical teams, as well as the US military, were deployed to search for survivors. One injured survivor was retrieved from Halsey, William Johnson. He was rapidly rushed to a hospital. There were significant concentrations of the Star Destoyer’s crew that survived, in fact tens of thousands. All appeared hostile to the Terrans, and fired on them when medical assistance was offered. Due to the large amount of hostile personnel in the ship, the military decided against a direct assault. 

Elsewhere, one Vindicator class cruiser, one Arquitens cruiser, and 2 Raider class corvettes fell to the ground in various other places near the Star Destroyer. An additional Nebulon B, Arquitens, two Raiders, and a Vigil class corvette surrendered, seeing no chance of either escape or resistance. 2 Vigils and 2 Raiders were destroyed after resisting demands to surrender.

However the combined forces of Earth had also taken a beating. Both of the large cruisers had been destroyed, or in the case of the Halsey, crash landed on Earth.  
Two of the Terran Destroyers had been destroyed (not Star Destroyers, those are much larger!) and 5 frigates had also been destroyed. In addition, 8 corvettes and 3 armed transports and science ships had been destroyed. Many of the other ships had received some form of damage, though this was mostly light. 

A small shuttle craft had reportedly escaped the Star Destroyer, though who was on it was unknown. A variety of escape craft had ejected from the Imperial fleet, and many of the prisoners of war had been caught. 

With the crisis seemingly over, an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council was being convened. Practically all governments in the world had condemned the attack (but lacked the knowledge that the Empire probably wasn’t listening. It was a PR move anyway to seem strong the people that elected them)

As the battle ended, people from all over the world watched and wondered what was next. Some were confused and angry that their governments had known this Empire existed and that Earth had defenses. A few avid conspiracy theorists and watchdogs claimed to know that this was coming, and some did in reality. 

Aboard Shuttle T4-87261

The small Lambda class shuttle shook off minimal persu it made into hyperspace. Rear Admiral Ketchlow was trying to figure out what he would say to Fleet Admiral Hiffgans, the sector commander. Captain Dole Made was next to him, in the co-pilot's seat. He had been mostly quiet since they had left Earth. 

“Admiral, I need to use the refresher.”  
“Go then.”

Captain Made stood up and walked out of the small cockpit. Once he had left the room, the Captain unholstered his SE-14c blaster pistol and walked back to the cockpit. 

The last thing Admiral Selta Ketchlow saw was the blue of hyperspace. Mole put 3 shots into him. Ketchlow was fatally wounded. Dole didn’t regret it or feel any sympathy. He deserved it. He had been incompetent and unreliable during the battle. 

The shuttle briefly jumped out of hyperspace, where the Admiral’s charred body was thrown out the airlock. No one would ever know what happened. 

Unidentified Holding Facility near Washington DC  
“I’m Jack Abacus, your legal representative. I assume you are Lieutenant Commander Drofa Haffard.”  
“Yes I am.”  
Abacus sat down on a cold metal chair.  
“I also understand you were second in command of that large Star Destroyer. And 3rd in command of that fleet.”  
“Yes I was.”  
“I have several options for you Commander. Due to your high rank, and therefore higher participation in the attack you are eligible for more charges against you. But you also have more opportunities. How much do you know about the Empire.”

Haffard cleared his throat. “I know a lot sir. I have valuable information on how the Empire operates, both in theory and in practice. I know many of its strengths and weaknesses. I know how to operate and run Imperial ships. And I can testify to the fact that I was having my second thoughts about the Empire. I have a private diary that I can access in my datapad that can vouch for this.”

“It will be examined. Why were you having second thoughts?”

“I had a great dislike for my commanding officers, who were both incompetent and corrupt, often blatantly breaking regulations. Both Admiral Ketchlow and Captain Made spent extensive time off visiting places where women of negotiable affection make a reside. Though it seems the Captain was According to Imperial law, it is illegal, if money or other objects are exchanged for such a service, and I believe this was the case. They often brought these women onto the ship, blatantly against regulation. They were often intoxicated on the bridge, and consumed alcohol on duty. I complained several times to the sector Admiral, but despite extensive evidence no action was taken. And I can say for certainty that this problem was not exclusive to this fleet.”

“Interesting. If your claims about your loyalty are true, there might be a deal in the works. One that might be quite beneficial to you.”

“What are you proposing?” Haffard asked

“I’m not part of the military, but I worked for this force that defended this space to sort out any legal troubles. I learned quite a lot. One was that someone of your knowledge could be quite useful. I also have some friends. What I propose is this: you take a role as a military advisor to us. You will be on probation, and be monitored, but it’s perhaps the best that can be done.”

“Alright, thank you. I look forward to this.”

A medical facility at an undisclosed location in the North Eastern United States

“He’s waking up.”  
William Johnson felt absolutely horrible. Like he had been hit with a sea of bricks and then set on fire. He genuinely wondered if he was dead. 

The blurriness in his eyes faded. A doctor or some other medical personnel was looking at him.

“Am I dead.” He moaned.  
“Commander, I assure you that you are alive. You're in so much pain because the medication has worn off. Here you go.” He said as the syringe dove deep into the skin of his forearm. 

“Well how am I alive?” Will asked. “I thought I was going to die.”  
“Considering what you did, you almost didn’t survive. It was really luck, and the fact that medical teams got you quickly. If not, you would have died. Or captured by the Imperials.  
“What happened to them?”  
“Most have surrendered, along with their ships.” The doctor looked worried.” But that Star Destroyer didn’t. There are quite a number of people still on that ship even though it has crashed on the ground. They even shot at the medical helicopters!”

“That’s horrible.” Will said. He was starting to feel better. “How badly am I injured?”  
“You have a broken arm and leg. And some bad cuts. But you didn’t lose that much blood. A bit of time I’m the new Bacta Tanks should fix those.”

Bacta tanks, and Bacta in general was a relatively new substance to Earth. An uninhabited planet not far away from Earth had substantial amounts. Will was truly in awe of the new effect it was. He was no doctor, but it could cure even severe wounds in hours.

“You have some visitors. Both Admirals Reed and Paul Harrington are waiting to see you.”  
Chief of Staff of spaceborne Armed Forces, Fleet Admiral Marcus Reed was the senior most officer in the fleet. He was in his 70's as well, and had been with the American division of the forces for a long time. Harrington had been the head of the officer’s school for many years, including when Will was there. He had since taken the position of deputy head of the space forces, effectively second in command to Reed. 

The two stepped in, both of them taking towering over Johnson in his hospital bed. 

“What you did demonstrated not only tactical skill and prowess but a dedication to something your duty and selflessness. It is the model of what we want our officers to be. But that doesn’t change that what you did prevented potentially tremendous loss of life, as well as historical objects that are fundamental to what this nation is. For your actions, Lieutenant Commander William Johnson, you will be promoted to Captain. This rank will come with your first command. We’re not sure who she will be, but we will keep you updated.

“Thank you sir.”

“After you get discharged from here, you’ll have 2 weeks of shore leave. After that, we will probably know what you will command. The public also knows about what you did, and about all of this. There wasn’t any way to stop the flow of information, but we are trying to guide it.”

“I can handle it sir.”

“Good.” Admiral Harrington piped u. “When I last checked about 10 minutes ago, you were the 4th most searched term on google.”

Johnson chuckled. “Well that’s an accomplishment I will remember.”

“I’m sure you will remember it.” It was Reed. “There are a few more visitors.”  
“I’d say more than a few. Most of your surviving crew is here to see you.” Harrington stated.

“It isn’t my crew.” Johnson said earnestly. “It was Captain Vermont’s.”

“I’d try telling that to them. They are quite set in their views.” Harrington and Reed left the room. A number of the surviving crew from the Hallsey then entered the room. It was packed, with crewmen taking up every inch of space. There were more in the hallway as well. Some had casts or bandages over wounds. But many were unscathed. 

The highest ranking member of this group was Allison Chipper. The two locked eyes. Johnson now vividly remembered their conversation together. “Later.” Her face communicated.

“We’d all like to thank you for what did, how you stepped up and provided leadership when we needed it most. That you alone decided to stay on the ship and do what needed to be done, and to ensure that we made it out alive.” Chipper said softly.

“I couldn’t have done what I did without any of you. You should all be proud of yourselves.” Johnson replied. 

“Sorry to interrupt, but I need to administer more medicine.” The doctor could be heard, but Will didn’t know from where.

“I think we have made both our points. I hope to serve with you all soon.”

With that, everyone shuffled and bumped out of the room. Allison was the last out. She turned back as she was leaving.   
“Good luck Will.” She said.  
“Thank you.” He replied as she exited. Will was excited to see more of her in the future.

He drifted off into sleep as the doctor applied the medication.


	9. Chapter 9

Major Augustus Marks surveyed the map of the forces surrounding the Star Destroyer.

This had been his idea, after all. 

The area that they were in was sparsely populated. The few people who lived here had already evacuated when the large Imperial starship crashed down.

Therefore, they wouldn’t have to worry about collateral damage. At least it wouldn’t be a priority. 

The plan had been to set up a concealed defensive perimeter in a ten mile radius of the Star Destroyer. “Concealed” was relative, as it was probable that the Imperials would see the various armored vehicles, artillery, and soldiers in all directions. The goal was to lure the Imperials out of their well armored ship into concentrated fire. The Imperials would walk into an open field, with few trees. There would be little cover for them to use, and what cover they had would be obliterated. They would be easy picking.

The Major wasn’t in command of this operation. That fell to Major General Abicus Grant. He was the commander of the UN Extraplanetary Marine Corps, the highest ranking officer and leader of the organization. However due to his previous knowledge of the Empire, being the head of a secret organization, and his tactical skills, he has been ordered by the President to use whatever forces at his disposal to secure the Star Destroyer.

Originally, Grant had wanted a full on siege of the grounded vessel. But such an assault would have been very costly. He had agreed that luring the Imperials out was a better strategy.

“Sir, the Imperials are disembarking.” An officer reported to them.  
“How many?” Asked Grant.  
“About 15,000. About 60 percent of them seem to be Stormtroopers. The rest are various other crewmen. There are few artillery or armored units.”  
“General, I think we should wait for them to enter the lion's den. Then we should slaughter them.” The major requested.

Several other high ranking officers nodded in agreement.  
“A good idea, Major. We shall wait briefly.”

After five minutes of waiting, it was time to attack.

“Relay this message to all units, Lieutenant.” The young officer adjusted his makeshift computer to broadcast to everyone. 

“All artillery, armored, air and sniper personnel are to open fire on those Imperials.”

A massive barrage of shells, missiles, and rockets was fired. The impact was devastating. Several thousand of the Imperials were obliterated in seconds. Any semblance of order or discipline was gone. It was a rout. 

Then the aircraft arrived.  
Dozens of fighters and attack aircraft pursued the retreating Imperials, firing missiles and bullets at the fleeing Imperials.”

“Keep firing. Only stop when they enter that ship.” Grant was content with his victory.

It would later be estimated that less than a thousand Imperials survived out of 15,000. Most of the able bodied men and women were dead or wounded now. 

But what was truly remarkable was that the battle had been won by 21st century weapons that were primitive by galactic standards. Admittedly tactics had been a deciding factor, but it was still impressive. 

“We're 2 minutes to landing, Captain.”

“Acknowledged.” A thick Russian accent replied.   
Captain Victoria Petrova of the UN Extraplanetary Marine Corps watched as the large Star Destroyer came into view. The small Normandie class dropship was like a small bug compared to it.

“You are all about to face the largest challenge of your life so far. This will not be like anything you have ever done. I’m not any different here. But their numbers are depleted, and we have had the best training given to any soldier in the world!” She said emphatically as cheers rang out from her squadmates. She wondered how her speech compared to the others in the other 3 dozen landing craft. But she shook the thought away. 

“One minute to landing.”

She wondered what other members of her family would think. Practically every man and several women she was related to had been soldiers. And they had also been Russian. Her great grandmother had been a famed sniper in the Red Army during the Second World War. Her great grandfather had fought as a tank commander in the decisive battle of Kursk. Her father was a drill instructor that trained spetsnaz special forces soldiers in Russia for several decades. He had made a few friends in high places. This had secured her a spot at the officer’s school for Marines. 

“30 seconds to landing.”

She looked at the 23 other soldiers in the dropship. Men and women she had come to know and trust. But as her father had told her, combat was the ultimate test of trust. 

“10 seconds.”

“Alright. Let's make this fast.”

The dropship landed on the upper bridge section of the Star Destroyer. The marines made their way to a hatch and opened it with a large plasma torch. There was no one to be found as they entered.

“Don’t let your guard down. They could be waiting at any corner.” 

Suddenly a group of Stormtroopers jumped out from behind a corridor in front of them. They all fired their blasters at the incoming marines, and several fell, dead or wounded. Victoria and the other marines found cover in the other corridors.

“Throwing Grenade!” She yelled as the Imperials scrambled for cover. After the large boom she and the other marines pushed forwards, taking advantage of the disorganized Imperials.

But there were many more Stormtroopers behind the corridor. But their fire was unfocused and inaccurate, even at close range. 

They encountered several other Imperial personnel on their way to their target; the ship’s bridge. Many were unarmed and surrendered on site. From what the now captives, said, they had taken many casualties when the ship landed. In fact some areas of the ship had been crushed after landing. There weren’t many Imperials that could and were willing to fight left.

Victoria found it underwhelming. There had been some resistance at the beginning, but this was nothing like expected. 

That said, she was happy that only a few members of her squad had perished. She had prepared herself for the eventuality of many more deaths, including herself. 

The officers on the bridge looked tired as they tried to fight back. There were over two dozen people there, Victoria assessed as a blaster bolt from her KMR 500 blaster rifle hit an Imperial crewman. 

After several minutes the Imperial’s position was becoming unsustainable. All the entrances and exits were blocked or controlled by the marines. 

“We surrender. Please. We can’t take it anymore!” She heard a young voice say. In that moment two of the stormtroopers raised blasters to their necks and committed sucide. Victoria had heard that some of the Imperials were fanatical, but she hadn’t been prepared for their suicidal actions.

The six remaining Imperials dropped their weapons and surrendered without difficulty. “Whose in charge here!” She demanded the prisoners.   
“Me, Lieutenant Vassije.” Replies the same young officer who had surrendered.  
“Are your internal communications still working.”  
“Yes.”  
“Tell the rest of this ship to surrender.”

Garnison II, Zoloch Sector 

“Selta Ketchlow was a traitor in many ways, Admiral. He disregarded duty at many levels for his own personal gain was apparent in many cases.” Dole Made left out that he had also done many of the same things as Ketchlow, but such was the nature of the Imperial Navy. The academies had programmed these men and women to be fiercely competitive. Perhaps too competitive. While the academies certainly did not condone violence against other officers, (officially at least) the mindset of an Imperial officer could venture into dangerous territory. 

“I agree, Captain. He was a most troubling figure.” Admiral Kumara Picot, the sector commander replied with little in regard to emotion.

“Will we launch a counterattack against Earth?”

“Yes. It will be three months before it can be launched however. The troubles with rebel elements are expanding.”

“May I speak freely Admiral.”

“Yes.”

“I believe that these rebels are simply reactionaries that are capitalizing on the destruction of our battlestation.” He coldy stated. “Once our leadership has been reorganized the rebellion will be crushed.”

“A sentiment that I share Captain. On other matters, you were overdue for a promotion. You shall be promoted to Commodore and take command of a task force that will hunt down these rebels. In three months, when reinforcements arrive from the Core, you will hunt that rogue planet down and force into submission.”

“I will not repeat the ignorance of Ketchlow, Admiral.”


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Author’s note: at this point in time we're still in canonical Star Wars, but I’m modifying it for the needs of this story. And this chapter is also a bit thick in background information. 

Udfer Jimenx was getting annoyed. But he was also excited.

It had been almost three months since he had landed on this obscure island. His food supplies were running low, despite careful rationing and augmentation by local fruits and meats. He had at least written all the reports he needed to on the small datapad he had brought. It had started to drive him crazy.

Thank the force he had communication running. The datapad had provided for some entertainment,

The rebellion had to spare one of its greatest assets to rescue him, the shuttle Underground. It had been a small Imperial stealth ship, no larger than a shuttle. But was equipped with a stygium powered cloaking device. Several disgruntled members of Imperial Intelligence had stolen the ship a week after the battle of Yavin. Despite being in rebel service for four months now, the small ship had been in almost constant use by Alliance Intelligence. If they sent any other ship, it would be detected by this planet’s space force. And despite his report of their competence in combat, High Command didn’t want to contact them directly yet. 

They wanted a direct testimony first before any sort of contact. 

The datapad chimed as a notification popped up. 

Underground is in the atmosphere of Earth. ETA 5 minutes.

“Finally!” He thought to himself. Soon he saw the slender craft descend from the sky.

High Command had better make it up to him.

“William Johnson to Admiral Reeds office please.”

For the past few 3 months, Captain Williaim Johnson had been working at the officers academy for the fleet in upstate New York, teaching tactics and strategy to aspiring officers. That number was growing, as many (mostly naval and air) officers and personal aspired to join the now reformed Combined Space Forces Of Earth. 

In one weeks time, however, he would be taking command of the Charles M Cooke, a new cruiser based on the design of the William Hallsey. However, it had improved shielding, armor, and weapons, taking the lessons learned during the battle of Earth. 

The academy, being the largest and most prominent building in use with the fleet, had been turned into a makeshift command center. Most major command elements of the fleet were based here. These elements coordinated the economic and military mobilization that was producing everything from utensils to turbolasers. 

These items, and many more would be needed for whenever the Empire returned. 

It was a time like no other. And perhaps the greatest challenge had already been overcome. That challenge was coordinating and connecting all the personnel and resources that were jumbled across the world and moving them were they needed to be. As well as retooling and building factories and spaceborne shipyards to produce war materials. 

Before conflict broke out, and Earth’s space forces had been secret, the Alpha Centauri shipyards had 12 docks for producing, repairing, and refining starships. Now, there were 20 docks there and 16 on a new facility above Earth. New starships were now being commissioned weekly. Training personnel was less efficient, but Earth’s ships had always required a smaller crew than those of other planets and galactic organizations. 

Earth was mobilizationing for total war against the Empire. And while they might be focused on defense of their dear planet for now, that might inevitably change. For as long as humanity had ruled the world, war had been common. And as time had gone on, humanity had developed weapons of war that could kill masses efficiently. But as he walked to the Admiral’s office, Will wondered what would happen if humanity, or at least humanity on Earth, stopped pointing their weapons at each other and looked to the stars. Perhaps in a thousand years, it would be the flags of whatever government ruled Earth, that would have long since abandoned the concept of nation states, flying above prestigious Core worlds such as Coruscant. 

Johnson left his thoughts as he entered Admiral Reed’s office. 

“Admiral, you requested to see me.”  
“Take a seat, Captain.”  
Will followed his instructions.

“As of right now, those marvelous engineers and technicians have risen that Star Destroyer, ahead of schedule. There isn’t much to do, since the various repairs and modifications were applied while on the ground. But we suddenly realized that despite cutting down the crew size significantly, we don’t actually have a damn crew!”

William chucked. “With the rate the academy is pumping out cadets, we should have plenty.”

“But we have a severe shortage of experienced officers and enlisted personnel. My point is that I’d like to offer you the Captaincy of the Impassable.” Despite not being an Imperial ship anymore, it had still kept the same name. 

“I’ve talked to Admiral Harrington already. He will be taking direct control of the fleet, and will use that ship as his flagship. So you will get some direction from him.”

“I accept the offer sir. When will it be ready for me to take command?”

“The Engineering Division told me they need a day to work out the kinks. You’ll leave tomorrow morning. I’ll also get someone to cover for your afternoon classes.”

“Thank you sir.”

“You should be thanked for your service, William. Can you get me a list of the senior staff you want by 20:00. I’ll make sure you get who you want.”

“Yes sir. I will.”

“You are dismissed, Lieutenant.”

With that, Johnson left the officer, already considering who he wanted his senior officers to be.

Mon Cala

“This is the shuttle Underground. We’re transmitting clearance codes now.”  
“Welcome back Underground. Land on pad 6279.”

Captain Udfer Jimenx of Alliance Intelligence watched out the window of the uncloaked stealth ship at the current headquarters of the Rebel Alliance, Mon Cala. A fleet of several hundred rebel warships stood guard above the ocean world. It was the first headquarters of the rebellion that openly wasn’t secret. 

The Mon Calamari and Quarren had at first supported the Empire, but as they had been discriminated against and exploited. Two years before the Death Star was destroyed, the Calamari and Quarren had throw off their shackles; and became one of the few worlds to successfully defeat the local Imperial forces and repeal counterattacks. The often improvised warships of the Mon Calamari Mercantile Fleet were found to be effective against vessels as large as Imperial Star Destroyers. After their liberation, these once vessels of exploration or transport were refined for war. The massive Mon Calamari Shipyards became the largest spacedocks not under Imperial control.

After first, the Mon Cala thought that the fledgling rebellion was ineffective, scattered, and uncoordinated. But after Mon Mothma’s Declaration of Rebellion, the Calamari supplied small numbers of warships and crews to the rebellion, but did not openly join the war. Admiral Raddus, one of the architects of the Calamari’s rebellion, led and helped rebuild the Alliance Fleet after their disastrous defeat over Atollen. With his death during the Battle of Scarif, and the destruction of the Death Star, the Mon Cala had a change of heart. 

After a unanimous and quick decision by the provisional legislature, the Mon Cala helped evacuate the now exposed rebel base at Yavin IV. The Calamari joined the rebellion outright and provided their now expansive fleet, shipyards, and personnel. 

Jimenex saw two Alliance troopers by the landing pad.

“Sir, General’s Cracken and Draven want to see you immediately. In Cracken’s office.”  
“Thank you.” He replied, and headed on his way.

“First of all, we apologize for your extended stay on that planet. The Underground was needed for several other major operations.” It was General Airen Cracken, head of Alliance Intelligence.

“I understand sir, even though it wasn’t an enjoyable experience.” 

“Well you will get some time off. But High Command wants you to give an in person report tomorrow at 09:00.” Cracken replied in his usual, moderately cheerful voice.

“They want to question you.” It was General Draven. He was the less cheerful and much more cynical when compared with his superior. However, he was capable at his job as deputy director or Alliance Intelligence.

“Is there a reason Command is so interested?” Asked Jimenex. If High Command wanted an in person report, something was afoot. 

“The inhabitants of this planet concealed 50 starships, from not only the Empire, but their own people. They then proceed to destroy or capture the entire Imperial force. While crude and untested, their ships and tactics seem to be noteworthy. As you know, few worlds defeat Imperial forces of that size in first contact. If you ask me, Command probably wants to talk to them.” Draven said.

“Besides, this will be your first in person report to Command. With Andor’s death, your our best agent in many regards.” Cracken said with a slight frown.

“Those our big shoes to fill Captain.” General Draven brooded. He had been friends with Cassian Andor, or at least Andor had been one of the closest things to a friend that Draven could have had. 

“Thank you sir.”

“You are dissmissed, Captain. Get ready for that report.”  
“Yes sir, I will.” Jimenex said as he left the room.”

William Johnson was stuck.   
Writing most of the letters to his future senior staff wasn't hard. He put in the request and sent them a short message asking if they wanted the position. Most of them had said yes already, with just a few that probably were on duty not responding yet. 

He had definitely chosen some interesting senior officers. One, Drofa Haffard, was the XO of the Impassable when it had been in Imperial service. He would become the ship’s new XO. Johnson wasn’t worried about his past. He had apparently had some problems with the Empire before, and he was still on probation. So Will didn’t think he would do anything to undermine the ship’s operations.

But he was at an impasse. The last position he needed to fill was chief engineer. And he knew who he wanted, Allison Chipper. The former chief engineer of the William Hallsey, and now one of the leading engineers who was helping to raise the Impassable. 

The issue was asking her felt kind of weird. She had always been nice to him, at least as long as they had really known each other. Will considered her a friend, one of the few he had. But Will was starting to feel something different about her. 

“Screw it.” He said to no one. He would invite her. Her experience was invaluable, and perhaps the two could have some fun.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11  
Garnison II, Zoloch Sector 

The small probe droid surveyed the headquarters of the Imperial Navy’s Zoloch Sector Command. It was a former Imperial model that had been captured a few months before the rebellion. It’s mission was to determine the size of the local Imperial fleet.

There were eight Imperial Class Star Destroyers in orbit, as well as about three dozen cruisers, frigates, and corvettes. This was an unusually large amount of ships. Previous reports had been stated only two Star Destroyers and about half of the smaller ships were present. 

After silently cruising away at sublight speeds and jumping to hyperspace, the probe sent a secure transmission to Alliance Intelligence.

No one in the Imperial fleet had known at all.

Admiral Kumara Picot looked at the professional but excited commodore Dole Made. The Admiral observed that he was eager to launch his attack against the rogue planet of Earth. Picot frankly didn’t care much about the planet, and had been in fact pleased when the late Rear Admiral Ketchlow died. He was a potentially dangerous rising star that could eliminate him and take his place with time and patience. Made was eager, but untamed. Hopefully, a victory against a primitive, but capable enemy would increase his ego. Which would make him either content with his position, and therefore not a threat to him, or create a burning ambition that would eventually give Picot cause to eliminate him.

“How is your progress, Commodore.” He asked.

“Well sir, all of the ships are assembled. We will be ready to go in 20 hours. Our last intelligence report a week ago indicated that their fleet has grown, but not to challenge our’s.”

“What of that Star Destroyer that you once commanded?”  
“A week ago, the probe we sent indicated that it was grounded and being salvaged. I doubt that the Terrans have the capabilities to raise it.”

“Good. I will not get in the way of your preparations, Commodore.”  
“Thank you sir. I will not let you down.” Made said and left.

Earth’s Orbit

The shuttle entered the hangar bay of the UNS Impassable. Despite its size, the large vessel was ready for service a day after its launch, thanks to the skills of tens of thousands of personnel, some of which would be serving on the ship. Since the steward would leave the few possessions he had in his quarters, he decided to go check out the bridge, even though he wouldn’t be on duty for two more hours.”

“Captain on the Bridge.” The watch officer reported and they various bridge officers stood at attention.

“At ease. Continue with your operations. Lieutenant Jeffries?” He asked the watch officer. “Do you have anything to report.”

“70 percent of the crew is aboard sir. The rest should be on in an hour, including Admiral Harrington.”

“Good, is the ship running alright on a technical level.” William inquired.  
“Engineering had a few small problems with the sublight engines. But they said they have them figured out.”

“Alright. As you were Lieutenant.”

Captain Johnson entered main engineering. The various personnel saluted him, and he lost track of how many times he had said “at ease”. He was well known throughout the planet as “The Savior of DC” according to several news outlets. He knew that many of the officers were just being professional, but it seemed some almost worshiped him. That would have to be addressed at a later date.

He saw the chief engineers office door open and walked in to find who he was looking for, Lieutenant Commander Allison Chipper. She was reading something on her tablet but put it down as he entered. The automatic door closed soon after.

“Did you need anything, Captain.” She asked him politely, but in a friendly way.   
“I just wanted to check on engineering. I was told you were having trouble with the sublight engines.”  
“It’s under control now. But it took a lot of work to get those engines back.”  
“Well a bunch of nukes and a cruiser crashing into a ship are probably not going to do wonders for the engine.” The two chuckled at that.  
“Well Captain, you’d better not crash anymore ships. Me and my teams don’t want to have to fix another like this again.”  
“I thought we were on a first name basis.” He asked and then started to regret his comment.  
“Well, um, uh, I was trying to be professional.”  
“It’s fine. If you want to, of course. But we were on a first name basis when I was about to die on the Hallsey.”   
“Alright, you win. She rolled her eyes.”  
They both sat and stood their, a deep feeling of nervousness resonating in them. Deciding to break the silence. William loudly coughed.  
The two started laughing heavily. It was what they needed, in both of their opinions.   
“Well, Allison, I’m sure you have plenty of work to do.”  
“You bet Will. Can we keep this first name thing private for now. I don’t want the crew to get any distracting suspicions.”  
“I think they will sufficiently distract themselves. I heard some of the officers are betting on how long the protections are going to last.”  
They both laughed.  
“Thanks for stopping by Will.”  
“Your welcome. Any time.” Will said as he exited the office and headed to his quarters to unpack.

Mon Cala

The various senior civilian and military personnel of the Rebel Alliance gathered around the large table, in a way similar to the debates on Yavin. 

The leader of the Rebellion, former Imperial Senator Mon Mothma stood at one side of the table, next to an uneasy Captain Udfer Jimenex. But thanks to his intelligence training, he hid his uneasiness off reporting to many of the Rebellion’s senior officials.

“Captain Jimenex, you encountered an unknown planet, one that supposedly was primitive and had little form of space defense only to be greeted with a fleet of warships that destroyed the Imperial force. Please recount those events.”

Captain Jimenex recounted the battle of Earth as best he could. There were few interruptions, and he started to finish after about five minutes.

“This Star Destroyer was then set on a collision course with the capital of the planet's arguably wealthiest and most powerful nation states.”

“This planet still has NATION STATES!” Senator Jebel exclaimed. “How uncivilized!”  
“Senator, please. Perhaps we should learn more about this planet before we come to an opinion.” Mothma stated clearly to several murmurs of approval.

“Do you know the political affiliations of the planet.”  
“Well Democracy is quite common.” Jimenex was glad that he had read up on the planet during the journey there and when he had been stranded on that island.  
“But in many cases it is illegitimate. Especially in the smaller, poorer nations. There are over 200 on that planet.”

“Well who are the largest and more powerful ones.” General Jan Dodonna asked.

“The largest in terms of land size is the Russian Federation. They once were one of the two largest powers, but they have downsized and have less influence now. They have a supposedly democratic government, but in reality it seems to be oligarchic. There is The People’s Republic of China. They are a fast growing regime, with a massive population and massive amounts of manufacturing. However, they are, ahem, quite autocratic. In many ways they are like the Empire, even though they are slowly liberal liberalizing.”

“Then let them die at the hands of the Empire! They seem just as bad!” Senator Vaspar declared in a rage of outburst.”

“We can’t be picky about our friends Senator. If I must remind you, this is war. We need every advantage we can get.” General Draven said sternly. 

“Continue, Captain.” Mon Mothma cleanly prevented any other discussion.

“There is one other large one. The United States is by far the most powerful on the planet, both economically and militarily. They are in many ways similar to the old Republic, with a relatively well functioning democracy and a massive commitment to freedom. Some have argued almost too much. From what I can understand, they are the largest player in that space fleet and I’d guess they were critical to forming it.” Jimenex finished.

“Now that could be something. I think we should help them.” Princess Leia said, speaking up for the first time.

Jimenex went on to explain the European Union and the UN, as well as a bit of other information about the planet. 

“There are large amounts of natural resources. And with a population of over 7 billion people, even a fraction of that could as a large pool of manpower.”

“We also have intelligence that the Empire is massing ships for a strike. Eight Star Destroyers and three dozen smaller ships.” General Cracked read from his datapad.

“Admiral Ackbar, I want you to assemble an appropriate task force to meet those Imperials. And also to introduce the Alliance to Earth”

“Who do you want to lead it, Senator?” Asked Admiral Ackbar.  
“I think you should. You're not currently on the front lines. Leia, I want you to come with Ackbar and lead a diplomatic mission there. Depart as soon as possible.” Mothma had made her decision.

“This meeting is adjourned. Good work, Captain.”  
“Thank you Senator.” He responded and left the room with everyone else.

“I must say, there are a few things about this organization that confuse me Captain. Perhaps it’s my Imperial knowledge, but I find it odd that this fleet permits romantic relationships between crewmembers.” Commander Haffard asked Captain Johnson his office.”

“Well when this fleet was formed, they personnel would not be able to see anyone on the planet ever again. They wouldn’t have any significant time off or any shore leave. And as I’m sure you know, Commander, humans have certain urges.” Johnson replied and took a sip of his coffee.

“I guess I understand, but I still am not used to it.” He replied dryly.   
“Of course you can use it to your advantage, there are plenty of women here on this ship.” The two laughed.

“Well Captain, I’ll…”

“Captain to the bridge, we have an emergency.” 

Johnson and Haffard excited the onto bridge from the office.

The watch officer looked like he had been whipped with a sack of gravel.

“Report, Lieutenant.” Johnson sat down in the captain’s chair.

“Long range sensors have picked up an Imperial task force approaching the system.”


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Will was suddenly filled with a sense of dread.

“How long till they get here?” He asked.  
“They’ll be in one hour and ten minutes.” Replied the sensor officer.  
“Sound general quarters. How many ships in this fleet.”  
“There are six Star Destroyers, two cruisers, four frigates, and six corvettes.” Replied the sensor officer.

Will winced at the number of Star Destroyers. Six was a big increase over last time, and even then it had been a challenge stopping the Empire. He left his thoughts and saluted as Admiral Paul Harrington entered the bridge. The two exchanged salutes, and them Johnson relayed the information.

“Sir, we’re getting orders from fleet command on the surface.” The communications officer reported. “They have told us to follow the Killzone plan.”

The killzone plan had been devised by Admirals Reed and Paul, with some smaller input from a few other admirals and captains, including Johnson. The premise was simple. Kill as many Imperials as possible by placing mines and asteroids in the path of the Empire. Several dozen large mines and asteroids were placed where the Empire would come out of hyperspace near Mars. 15 massive turbolasers on the surface of mars would then attack the damaged Imperials as well as several fighter and bomber squadrons. 

After that, the fleet could launch starfighter attacks on the Imperials that would further damage the fleet. Once they reached Earth, they would be confronted with all of Earth’s fleet as well as 50 planetary turbolasers. The Terran fleet consisted of the captured Star Destroyer, three cruisers of an updated design of the William Hallsey and one rebuilt Imperial Vindicator class cruiser salvaged from the planet’s surface. Nine destroyers, 22 frigates, and nearly 50 gunships with about two dozen armed transports and science vessels would make up the bulk of the fleet. 

Several other captured Imperial vessels made up this fleet, including two Arquitens cruisers, and a single Nebulon B, as well as 4 Raider class corvettes and a Vigil class corvette. Combined with just under four hundred starfighters and bombers, it was a formidable force. But many of their crews were partially trained, and six Star Destroyers was still massive and perhaps would be the force that ended all resistance from Earth. 

Will predicted it would be a bloodbath. He knew many were about to die in the most pivotal battle in human history. A battle that would decide the fate of every of the over seven billion individuals on the planet. 

“Open a channel to Commander Davis.” He ordered the communications officer.

“Davis here.”

“Get your boys and meet in the pilots ready room in ten. And tell the ground crews to get all of our birds ready in 30.”

“Yes sir, replied the CAG.”

In ten minutes Admiral Harrington, Captain Johnson, and Commander Haffard along with the ships air wing of 96 pilots. Except for Commander Davis, the Command of the Air Group (or CAG for short) who was standing with the senior officers in the front podium, all the pilots sat in on chairs facing their officers.

“The Imperials are coming back.” Will said matter of factly. “They have six ISDs and two cruisers, four frigates, and six corvettes. We’re proceeding with the Killzone plan. All of our bomber squadrons and four of our fighter squadrons will depart in about 18 minutes. Two of the bomber squadrons based on Earth will also go.” Admiral Harrington continued. Will then spoke up. “Commander Davis will lead the fighter and bomber squadrons to Mars. You will wait there until the Imperial fleet comes out of hyperspace After you expand your missiles and torpedoes on the Imperials and retreat back here for rearmament.”

Will paused and turned to Commander David Davis.  
“Anything else Commander?” He asked.

“The Empire won’t be able to have a combat air patrol up when they leave hyperspace. And most of the big guns on those Star Destroyers aren’t good at targeting fighters. Use this to your advantage, but don’t get cocky. But then again, don’t be afraid to take risks. Now, get suited up. We have less than 15 minutes.”

“Good hunting out there.” Will said and everyone got up to go.

Home One, Flagship of the Alliance Fleet, somewhere in deep space.

Alderaanian Princess and Rebel Alliance Commander Leia Organa sat in the grand stateroom aboard the massive rebel star cruiser, reviewing all of the information about Earth. It was certainly a unique planet. Nation states usually had given way to some form of full planetary government by the time a species developed faster than light travel. In addition, the various cultures of a planet would condense into one larger culture, that might be slightly different on a city or county basis. Earth had many different cultures, big and small, and while some were starting to meld, they were all distinct. 

From a diplomatic standpoint, this was simply a nightmare. All of the customs of various cultures were running together in her mind. She eventually decided that these humans, at least the ones she was dealing with, would appreciate her as long as she didn’t do anything incrediblely stupid. In terms of what to offer them, it seemed that the planet wouldn’t want to directly enter the Alliance. Some of the cultures, especially in the Western Hemisphere of the planet didn’t like being ruled from another place far away. Military assistance, and perhaps some form of alliance between the two would work. But Leia didn’t want to commit to any path until she met some of these “Terrans” and saw what they were like. 

The door chimed with the ring of a person requesting to come in.   
“Come in.” She said as the door opened to reveal Captain Han Solo.

“I didn’t know you were coming Han.” She said in a surprised voice.  
“Senator Mothma told me that I was to be your bodyguard. She didn’t want a repeat of Joupou II.”

After a string of successful field missions, including rallying the surviving Alderaanians and destroying the Imperial factory on Cymoon 1, the Empire wanted to get their hands on the rogue princess who had caused them much trouble. So the Alliance had decided to send her away from combat to diplomatic missions, where she would secure Alliance support on various worlds. The first mission had been a success, but the second one had found her captured by a bounty hunter who intended to sell her to the Empire. Leia had luckily thwarted him and convinced the world to join the rebellion.

Her third diplomatic mission had ended with Leia turning down a marriage proposal from a snotty teenage prince. To no one's surprise, they had refused closer ties with the rebellion. But her most recent mission to Joupou II had been quite the escapade. Her presence had started a civil war, with pro Imperials rising up to fight the government’s attempt to join the rebellion. Pro Imperial troops had stormed the conference hall she and several other officials had been in, and nearly killed her. Leia had escaped in an epic chase, though her priceless Alderaanian gown had been bloodstained, torn, and waterlogged and her heeled shoes were at the bottom of a very deep lake. 

After that attempt on her life, Mothma didn’t want Leia going anywhere without a substantial military escort. Not only because she was a valuable asset to the rebellion and the youngest member of Alliance High Command, but Mon was her unofficial godmother. She didn’t know why exactly, there were plenty of people that could fill the role well other than that scrawny nerf herder. 

“Well I don’t want a repeat of that either. But don’t get carried away down there.”  
“Even if it’s in the name of diplomacy?” Had asked.  
“I’m the diplomat here. You're just here to protect me ok.”   
Han rolled his eyes. “Whatever you say, Princess, I’ll stay out of trouble. But should I also tell you that. You do get in a fair amount of trouble yourself.”  
“Shut up Han, or I’ll have your ass stripped down to recruit.” She said, even though she actually wouldn’t due that.  
Han sighed. “Whatever you say Princess.”

About 50 minutes after the briefing , in the orbit of Mars.

The Imperial task force dropped out of hyperspace where the hyperspace lane ended. And as planned, right into several dozen mines and large asteroids. The mines were all linked together and all detonated at the same time. The various astroids then exploded due to the mine’s detonation, sending shrapnel everywhere.   
Several of the smaller ships were damaged or destroyed, but only one of the Star Destroyers was critically damaged. Another two looked slightly damaged, with the three remaining looking nearly unscathed.

But this was only the beginning of the torment the Imperials would face.

“Alright boys, it’s our turn. Let’s go kill some Imps!” Commander David Davis roared over the pilot’s communications system. The 15 turbolasers mounted on the surface of Mars opened fire, concentrating on one of the Star Destroyers that was slightly damaged.

“All bomber squadrons, make a run on that other damaged Destroyer. The one that is not being fired on by those big guns! Fighters, protect those bombers. ” He said as the 48 fighters and 48 bombers approached.

All the fighters were of the F-1500a “Tempest” type, an upgraded and as of about a week before, mass produced variant of the F-1500s that had severed with distinction in the First Battle of Earth. The fighter somewhat resembled the more low tech atmospheric F-35 used by the United States. This fighter had more pronounced wings and was slightly larger in size. They were fast, agile, shielded and well armed, with a single rapidly repeating laser cannon in its nose, which had proven effective at taking down the Tie fighters of the Empire. They also had two heavier cannons on the wingtips for engaging heavier targets. A small number of missiles could be fitted on hard points of the wings, for a total of six. In this case, they were light air to air missiles. An underlying weapons bay could also be loaded with ordnance, in this case a light anti-ship missile. The fighter also had some basic stealth systems, though they would have little effect on this battle.

The BA-1000 “Havoc” bomber was larger, with its somewhat triangular shape a similar aesthetic to several modern day stealth bombers. Only a dozen had been in service for the first battle, but they had acquitted themselves well by almost single handedly destroying a 600 meter Imperial cruiser. This had encouraged more production, and 72 were now in service. They were fast when compared to several other common bombers in the galaxy. Four forward medium laser cannons and two dual guns mounted in automated turrets provided a defense against enemy fighters. This was augmented by several air to air missiles. But inside the bomber was a large ordnance bay that in this case held four heavy anti ship missiles. 

“Watch out for this guns!” Yelled Davis as several turbolasers and laser cannons from the Star Destroyer opened fire on them.

“Commander!” Yelled Captain Adrian Dresnson, the commander of the bombers. “Their hanger shield is down.” She said referring to the destroyer that they were attacking. The shield on that part of the ship must have come down due to damage, and the interior of the Star Destroyer’s hanger was not particularly well protected.

“Go for it, Captain! We got your six!” Replied Davis, seeing the untold destruction that a strike there could produce.”

“All bombers, launch your missiles at that hanger. Then get out of here as fast as you can!”

“We’ve got company!” Said Davis’s wingman, Captain Karl Runstat. Several dozen Tie fighters were moving fast out of the hangers on their Star Destroyers. They intended to go after the fighters.

But just as the Imperials were coming out to intercept the attackers, almost 200 missiles were fired out of bombers. All the Terran ships broke off to flee the blast that was about to come from the damaged ship.

The blast came. And it came hard.

The massive explosion tore apart the Star Destroyer’s hangar bay and detonated the anything explosive in the ship. In a ball of fire, the once proud Star Destroyer Implacable was torn apart. Shrapnel and debris from the ship heavily damaged two other Star Destroyers, and lightly damaged the remaining three. 

As the squadrons departed the damaged fleet, cheers exploded through the squadron, the Terran ships in orbit of Earth, and the billions of civilians watching the battle intently on computers and televisions. 

In one strike, more than half of the Imperial fleet was destroyed or heavily damaged to the degree that it couldn’t help attack Earth. Even with these odds, Earth might not win. But it would sure as hell take every Imperial it could down with it.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13 

Commodore Dole Made was incredibly angry. He hadn’t expected a minefield, automated planetary turbolasers, and almost 100 fighters to all strike at once and cripple or destroy half of his forces. The planetary turbolasers on the uninhabited world of Mars were quickly destroyed by counter battery from the guns of the 3 operational Star Destroyers. Both of the two heavily damaged Star Destroyers underwent a massive power failure after being hit by debris from the destroyed ISD Implacable. They, along with a few of the heavily damaged smaller ships would stay back, as they couldn’t move. 

That left him with three Star Destroyers, a single Vindicator class cruiser, two Nebulon Bs, and three Raider class corvettes. Due to the damage on some of his ships, his sublight speed was also greatly limited. For starfighters, he had just over three hundred Tie fighters Tie bombers combined. Made was almost pitiful for the crews of the smaller ships, who would almost certainly be destroyed in minutes. But even though slightly damaged, his three Star Destroyers would end this planet’s opposition in one decisive blow. 

The plan of attack was simple. All of his vessels would target the one captured Star Destroyer, the vessel he had once captained. Imperial military doctrine stated that a warship could only threaten a vessel of its size or lower, but not any larger. It was a fact that was burned into the heads of officer cadets at the prestigious naval academies such as those on Anaxes or Carrida. A fact that some thought to be untrue, especially as the rebellion found ever increasing success with small snubfighters. While numerous, the various other ships in the fleet raised by Earth would be irrelevant. They could easily be destroyed after the main threat was eliminated.

Some might call Commodore Made arrogant, stupid, and incompetent. He had simply been trained by the Empire to be steadfast to what his superiors had said and what he had been taught in the academy. Either way, Made has underestimated these Terrans once. 

He vowed to himself once again.

The Impassable, flagship of the UN Space Command

“Sir the Imperial fleet will be in weapons range in two minutes.” The sensor officer, Lieutenant Hedgerow Gator reported to Admiral Harrington, Captain Johnson, and Commander Haffard. They were about to engage in psychological warfare with the Imperial commander, who was Haffards old Captain. This wasn’t apparent at first glance, as the Imperial ship to ship communications were encrypted. But it had been easy to decrypt them, as Haffard had known their codes, which hadn’t changed since he had defected.

“Open a comm channel to the lead ship.” Johnson flashed a grin to the Admiral. “We have some last words before this battle.”

“Attention Imperial fleet, once you open weapons range you will be fired upon. I believe it is an experience you definitely don’t want.” Admiral Harrington said.

“You won’t get away again you pathetic Terrans!” Commodore Made snapped. 

“Oh is it Commodore now. How many juicy Admiral cocks did you have to suck to get that promotion Commodore Made.” Haffard exclaimed proudly to bellows of rehearsed laughter from the Impassable’s bridge crew, but most of it was still genuine. Johnson could make out what was probably laughter from the Imperial crew

“Haffard, you pathetic moron, it doesn’t surprise me one bit that you ended up helping those Terrans.” 

“There are over three thousand of us once Imperials working for the Terrans. They're very forgiving, unlike your performance reviews Commodore! 4.5 out of ten is definitely what you and that bastard Ketchlow got and deserved.” After the insults were done and the coms silent, the Imperial task force came into weapons range. With the firing solutions acquired beforehand, the Impossible and her fleet opened up on the Imperials. The Terrans were supported by the 50 planetary turbolasers spread across the planet, in a devastating barrage the likes of man had never seen before. The Imperial gunnery was inaccurate at first, likely due to Made’s anger and rage impairing his judgement. 

Earth’s starfighters stayed back behind the defensive grid of the Terran fleet. On the other hand, over three hundred of the Empire charged in mass. 

“Tell all turbolasers to adjust alignment to target those fighters.” Johnson said cooly. “And open a comm to Davis. Tell him to get ready to chase those Imperials.”

The various Turbolasers of the Impasable changed target slightly to focus on the Ties. Since the Imperial fighters were traveling in a straight line, the usual innaccuracy if the large guns at engaging fighters was irrelevant. That innaccuracy came when the fighters traveled in an unpredictable way. Several dozen Tie fighters were easily picked off by the one massive turbolaser blast, due to their close proximity to one another. The fighters then scattered in a jumbled mess, only for the now emboldened starfighters of Earth to assault the disorganized mess of Tie fighters, aided by rapid fire laser cannons on the various Terran ships. 

Commander Davis chased after a fleeing Tie fighter. Despite its nonexistent armor and shielding, the Tie's high maneuverability made it hard to score a hit on. But after a minute of intense dogfighting, he managed to destroy it. 

Several of the Imperial fighters had regrouped, and had their eyes set on him. He saw the various other Terran fighters occupied in other battles, and Davis knew that he wouldn’t get much help from them. He made a desperate break for the fleet, hoping to shake the six fighters pursuing him. But Davis had just thought of an idea. 

He let the fighters close the gap, which led to a few hits on him that the aft shielding took care of. But then, he deaccerated, gliding slowly past the Tie fighters. As they broke off, still close to him, he fired all six of his air to air missiles, one for each fighter. All detonated on their target, eliminating all six of his pursuers. As if nothing had happened, he returned to the Impassable to rearm. 

Only about three dozen Ties managed to escape and return to the Imperial fleet. That was an almost 90 percent casualty rate of the starfighters that had attempted the attack. Three dozen Terran fighters were destroyed, but about a third of those had pilots bail out and survived to rejoin the fleet. 

The capital ship battle was much slower. While there was minor damage to a few ships on the Terran’s side, only two gunships had been destroyed and another two critically damaged by turbolaser fire from the smaller ships in the Imperial fleet. However, all of these smaller ships had been destroyed in successful conterfire, and there were signs of increased damage on the three Imperial Star Destroyers. But after two hours of conservative play from the Terrans, Admiral Harrington prepared the fleet to attack the Imperials.

“All ships, this is Admiral Harrington. Execute plan Gamma D.” 

According to the plan, most of the small gunships advanced towards the trio of Star Destroyers, but broke off and about two dozen each headed to both right and left of the Imperial task force. They were followed by several of the frigates and destroyers, as well as all of the starfighters. Only a few ships remained facing the Imperials, including Impassable, all of the cruisers, and a few destroyers, frigates, and corvettes stayed behind, laying down a steady stream of Turbolaser fire on the Imperials.

As the attack went on the smaller ships continued to move forward, trapping the Destroyers in an almost v shaped field of fire. A few of the gunships were destroyed or damaged in lucky hits. They didn’t have much in the way of armor or shielding, but were very fast an mauvable, with engines taking up a significant chunk of the 100 to 150 meter frame. Soon the two groups of Terran ships reached each other, firing turbolaser and missiles into the exposed flanks of the trio of Star Destroyers. 

“Sir we have unknown contacts jumping out of hyperspace! But they don’t look Imperial, not all of them at least.” The sensor officer reported in a confused manner. 

“Bring up a visual of the unknown contacts on my screen.” Replied Johnson.

There were about 35 vessels, with six roughly the size of a Star Destroyer. But these large ships were all distinct, with roughly cigar shapes. The smaller ships were quite diverse, but there seemed to be some common designs. There were several designs that appeared to be Imperial in origin, including a few of the Nebulon B frigates and Raider class corvettes, but all looked somewhat different from their Imperial counterparts. 

“That looks like a Rebel Alliance task force.” Haffard said in amazement.

Both Johnson and Harrington had been briefed about this “Rebel Alliance” earlier. It was apparently an organization fighting for freedom from the Empire and the restoration of a democratic government. They had only recently swelled after several major victories, including the destruction of a massive battlestation that could destroy a planet. All of that was according to Haffard and the other ex Imperial personal. 

Some of the Admiralty, including Harrington himself, had discussed trying to contact this rebellion. But the general consensus between the high up flag officers was that Earth needed to expand its defenses before reaching out into the galaxy. Some top officers had even theorized that the Empire might leave the planet alone, as it was relatively remote. However, this was mostly used in public circles to try to prevent mass paranoia. And with this attack from the Empire, that theory had been proven wrong. 

“Sir we have an incoming transmission. It’s from this rebel fleet.”

“:Put it through.” Ordered Harrington. 

“This is Admiral Ackbar of the Alliance to Restore the Republic.” A gruff voice stated. “We are an organization fighting for freedom from the Empire. You seem to be as well. Do you require assistance?”

“Open ship to ship communications. Let’s talk to this Admiral.” Ordered Harrington.

“Admiral Ackbar, this is Admiral Harringto of the captured Star Destroyer Impassable. We seem to have things under control here, but we will use all the help we can get.”

“We’ll move to engage the Imperial fleet Admiral. But we’re keeping a small force to watch those damaged Imperials.” Ackbar replied.

“Sir, something is up. Ackbar is the supreme commander of the entire Alliance Fleet. I don’t know why he would come to help us. And how would they know our location?”

“They could have had a spy on this ship or any of the others that have attacked us in both battles.” Johnson replied.

“Cut the chatter you two, we have a battle to win. Send a message to Commodore Made. Tell him to surrender or he and his fleet will be totally destroyed”

The Menace, flagships of Commodore Made’s squadron. 

“Sir, the Terrans are demanding we surrender.” A sweaty communications officer said, looking worried. Many of the Imperials were estimating that their carriers, and lives, were not going to last much longer. Especially with the inbound Rebel Fleet. 

“By absolutely no means will we surrender. Even if a thousand guns are pointed at us.”

“Sir, I think more than a thousand guns are pointed at us, and most of them are firing at us.” The XO said in a quiet, nervous voice.

“Damn you, Ghasti.”

“Sir, heavy fires are reported in main engineering, along with mass casualties.” Reported a low ranking technician. He had hastily promoted to the head of damage control after its head chief died in a heavy fire.

“Send all available personnel to engineering now.” He roared with anger.  
“But sir, we have fires on multiple other decks.” The DC officer answered. 

“I don’t give a damn. Stop with the insubordination right now.” He yelled at the now frightened young man. He only responded with a meek yes sir. That officer would be spaced on his command if they survived this.

“Gunnery, you better have that solution on their fleet headquarters now.”

“Yes sir, the gunnery officer responded.”

“Direct all batteries to fire on it. I want that building gone.” 

Chapter 14


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Admiral Marcus Reed, leader of Fleet Command and the highest ranking space naval officer on Earth watched the screen intently.

Most of the top flag officers in the fleet were here, at the makeshift academy and fleet headquarters. A few were serving in other areas, such as Harrington, who was directly in command of the fleet and arguably the second highest ranking officer in the entire fleet. Others were serving as liaisons to major governments, though these were mostly commodores. A few other Admirals were at other locations overseeing big projects or coordinating production. 

Most of the cadets at the academy had been rapidly shuttled up to ships in orbit, as more manpower was always better. Especially since much of the fleet was untrained, or transferred from “wet” or water bound navies of Earth, where roles were often similar and required less training. In addition, the various instructors and professors were also sent to ships in orbit. This helped complement the undersized crews on some of the ships.

Reed’s thoughts were interrupted by an alert on the large screen. What he saw was devastating. It was the Imperials, they were firing on his position. He and the other officers were deeply hidden under several stories of dirt and reinforced concrete. The official location of this academy was technically classified, and the complex was relatively obscure and remote. But it’s location had been leaked, though no one in any military or government had confirmed nor denied the allegations. And it should have been harder to find. But it wouldn’t take much to find this place in the grand scheme of things.

He and the other senior staff should have evacuated this location, according to the requests from top government officials. There were plenty of undisclosed locations they could go. And somehow he thought that a few meters of reinforced concrete would not protect him. He could see the other officers looking around worriedly.

“Oh shit. This was not how I thought I’d die.” Said one of the younger Admirals. He did have a point. All his life Marcus Reed had been dedicated to serving and protecting the planet. He had no family, in fact Reed had been an orphan. A kid who had been in the right place at the right time and had done the right things. This fleet would be his legacy. Not only his, he would be the one who shaped its identity when it needed an identity the most, after the first battle with the Empire. 

He wondered who would continue his legacy. Probably Harrington. Admiral Stanley Fisher was good with machines, but somewhat inexperienced when it came to commanding a fleet. After these two battles however, there would be a core of experienced officers who could be moved up in rank. A few would need to become Admirals, but many others would increase in rank, as more and more ships were built and new crews trained. 

Oddly, Marcus felt at peace. While on the surface he was dissatisfied with death, he knew he had played his part and done a good service to humanity. As turbolaser rained down around him and the room caved in, there were screams. 

But Admiral Marcus Reed was not in the group who screamed. 

The Impassable, in orbit of Earth

“Sir, the main Imperial ship has changed where they are firing; their firing the planet, specifically, the fleet headquarters.” Commander Gujrat Surrey, the ships Chief Gunnery Officer said in a worried voice. The alarm in his voice was rare, as the Indian officer was known to be cool headed. But there was a clear reason to be worried. Most of the senior admirals of the fleet had refused to evacuate the area, citing that they could best observe the battle there.

“Focus all fire on that ship, and move us in front of their fire. We can absorb that kind of firepower, they can’t.” Harrington ordered without thought. 

“But sir, I don’t think we stop much of their attack.” William protested.

“It could give them some time to escape, and we can stop some of their shots. Tell the four cruisers to block fire as well.”

The large ships moved forward, drawing fire from the ground based headquarters. But their efforts were in vain. The complex of buildings was destroyed in minutes, and it seemed as if there would be few, if any survivors. 

“Hold our position, but keep our fire on that lead destroyer!” Ordered Harrington.”   
“Sir, hits registered near the rear starboard primary engine with moderate damages. But there are several large fires, and I’m getting results of multiple casualties!” The ship's damage control officer, Lieutenant Greenwood reported.  
“Send DC teams to that area, and be prepared to depressurize that section if the fires can’t be stopped and reach critical systems.” Johnson ordered.   
“Yes sir!” The officer responded.

“Get me Commander Chipper in engineering.”  
“Engineering, what’s your status?” Johnson asked. “How is that engine that got hit.”

“That engine took quite a hit, Captain. It’s effectively knocked out, and we aren’t getting it operational in the near future.”

“Very well, hold our current position but increase power to forward shields. This rebel fleet should be able to finish those Imperils.”

Home One, in orbit of Earth.

Admiral Ackbar sat in his central tactical chair, observing the battlefield with care. These “Terrans” had combined the head on firepower of the captured Star Destroyer and several smaller, but powerful cruisers, with the agile and flexible frigates and corvettes that could carry out attacks on the rear of enemy Star Destroyers. Before his fleet had arrived, these Terrans had managed apparently to destroy a single Star Destroyer and cripple another two. They also seemed to have the current trio of Star Destroyers under control. And now, with six of his Star Cruisers taking shots at the exposed rear engines of the Imperial fleet, the battle was practically won. 

“Raptilus, you have the bridge. I must prepare the rest of our mission.” He told the ship's senior Mon Calamari captain, who was more than capable of commanding the fleet. Ackbar wanted to groom the Mon Cala for Admiralty, as he had shown skill command of ships. He motioned to Leia, who had been observing the battle, and the two made their way into the empty briefing room.

Leia spoke first once they had sat down. “I must say, Admiral, these Terrans have proven themselves quite adept at defending their planet.” Leia said from besides him, a hint of admiration in her voice.

“Many of their societies on this planet have a strong military tradition.” He seemed to be unwilling to continue the conversation and get back to business. “Is the diplomatic team prepared?” The fish-like officer asked. 

“Most of the staff I brought will serve in support roles. I will be doing the taking for now. Captain Verlaine will serve as my primary aide and Commander Solo is going to be my bodyguard.”

“Did you pick Solo to be your bodyguard?”  
“No, it was Mothma. I could always change it, but he’s already here and probably is the best option. I was going to have Verlaine double as security originally. I don’t know why Mon chose him though.”

“Senator Mothma has a habit of playing political games. I’m sure you're quite familiar with the concept.” Ackbar said dryly and got a short giggle from Leia.

“But perhaps her meddling is of a different nature. Perhaps she is trying to set you up with him.”

“Admiral, Don’t make me tell the council about that.”

“She helped set up your parents, so that might have set a precedent. You could always use this opportunity to get to know him better.” Ackbar retorted.

The two were interrupted by the voice of Captain Raptilius.”

“Admiral Ackbar to the bridge. We have a new development with the Imperials.”

The two exited the ready room and entered the bridge.

“Report, Captain.” Ackbar ordered as he approached his centrally mounted chair.

“The port Star Destroyer has been destroyed thanks to our concentrated fire. They had already taken quite a beating, so that was understandable. I’m reading critical damage on the mid Destroyer, and most of its guns are silent. They got hit with a lot of debris. The starboard Destroyer is heavily damaged but still intact.”

“Sir, I’m getting a transmission from the starboard Destroyer. They want to surrender.”

The Impassable 

“They want to surrender?” Admiral Harrington exclaimed.   
“It’s about time.” Will said. “There’re all surrendering. Including the damaged Imperials over near Mars.”

“All Terran ships. Cease firing and prepare to take on survivors, whether they be friendly or Imperial. The Imperials are to be taken as prisoners, and treated accordingly. All available shuttles are to commence SAR (search and rescue) operations. Cooperate fully with rebel forces as well. They definitely carried their weight in this battle. Good job everyone, we’ve done it again.” Harrington ordered.

A number of cheers rose up from the bridge. Once again, Earth had held its own against a far superior force, and came out on top. But they hadn’t done it alone. The next task would be to talk to these rebels in person.

“Open a channel to the leading Rebel ship.” Harrington ordered.

“Admiral Ackbar, with this battles conclusion, I’d like to officially invite you over to my flagship to discuss what happens to these prisoners and for celebration.”

“I’d be honored Admiral. May bring a diplomat as well.” Ackbar requested.

“Surely, we’ll be ready when you arrive.”

The ISD Menace, flagship of Commodore Made

Sparks flew as the wreck of a ship lay disabled, with all primary systems down. If the once grand Menace ever made it back to Imperial space, she would certainly be decommissioned and sold for scrap. That was essentially all she was worth, in Commodore Made’s opinion.

The bridge was mostly deserted. Several large bulkheads and other debris had fallen around, and many personnel were dead or unconscious. It was hard to tell the difference in the dim light.

There was no escape for Made. If he could get to a shuttle, assuming there were any that survived, he couldn’t get into hyperspace before being intercepted. There was no way the ship could fight back in this state. The other ship had surrendered, and it would be mere minutes until shuttles boarded everyone on the ship would be taken prisoner.

Being taken prisoner was no option for Made either. He had lost any respect or honor he had ever had. There was only one option, one to escape the suffering that could come whatever he did. 

“Everyone get out!” Dole Made yelled to anyone who remained. A few crewmen left the Bridge quickly. He then pulled out his blaster pistol, the same SE-14c that had ended the life of Ketchlow, and ended his own. There was no worth living after such a humiliation.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

A large shuttle exited the main hangar bay of Home One. This ship was the Swordfish, Admiral Ackbar’s personal shuttle. Round and bulbous, it was about 30 meters in length, and well shielded, armored and armed. 

Ackbar awaited in the ship's small stateroom. Leia was in the bathroom, tidying up and getting ready for their first contact with these people. Ackbar knew they were human, but there were still many questions he had unanswered. Specifically, how did these humans develop in this world? Humans had developed on several worlds in the galaxy, such as Corescant, but these humans had either developed incredibly slowly, or somehow been artificially inserted onto the planet. 

From what Ackbar understood, similar sentiments were shared throughout alliance Command, and he knew that they were all excited to hear what Leia and he would find. Of course it certainly wasn’t their first priority, as the Alliance was fighting an enemy that had many times it’s resources. But it was something to take their minds off the massive conflict. 

Leia emerged from the bathroom, wearing formal Alderaanian robes. It was good timing, as the ship was just entering the captured Star Destroyers hanger. He saw an array of fighter craft and shuttles being maintained, with some appearing damaged to frightening degrees. Dozens of personnel went about their tasks, with uniforms of different colors. Most likely to indicate their position. (IRL this happens on US aircraft carriers) 

The shuttles landed at what could only be described as the middle of the hanger. Ackbar could see three men awaiting them. He looked at Leia, who watching the action with interest.

“Are you ready Princess?” He asked.  
“Well I don’t know that much about these people. But I think it will turn out ok.”

William Johnson looked at the shuttle opening it’s door. A ramp unfolded, and out stepped two people. One was supposedly this Admiral Ackbar, dressed in a white naval uniform, his fishlike head bearing a neutral expression. Will hadn’t seen an alien race in persons before. They were almost impossible to find in the Empire, as Imperial policies promoted “order” and “cohesion”, and therefore there were none in the captives they had found. The next individual he didn’t exactly know of, but looked to be a young woman with brunette hair, a little small by some metrics, but wearing formal robes. She looked to be the diplomat that Ackbar had brought. He could see Haffard stiffen slightly. This appeared to be an important woman.

The three of them, Harrington, Will, and Haffard all saluted the two. Ackbar returned it. 

“It’s an honor to meet you, Admiral.” Harrington greeted Ackbar.  
“It is as well. Allow me to introduce Princess-Commander Leia Organa, one the highest Diplomatic officials in the rebellion.” Ackbar said.

“I’m not just a diplomat. I did destroy an entire weapons factory.”  
“Yes you did. I forgot to mention that she is one of our best operatives as well.”

“It's good to meet you, Princess. Let me introduce my fellow officers as we head to the conference room. The three lead the way to the room. 

“This is Captain William Johnson, the commander of this ship. He played a major role in both the battles. It was his command that was pivotal to winning the first battle here.”

“Well sir, you might be overstating it.” Will rebutted. 

“This is this ship's XO, Commander Drofa Haffard. He once was the XO of this ship in Imperial service. He defected and joined us, along with many others on this ship or others in our fleet. They are all well monitored though, and none of have tried to betray us.”

“There are many who have defected from the Empire in our ranks. Some of our highest officers are.” Leia said as they entered the room.

“First of all, could you tell us how you came into contact with the Empire and how you have this fleet. Imperial reports said you had very limited spaceflight technology.”Ackbar said as they entered the room and sat down.

“Throughout time, starships found there way into this system and crash landed on Earth. But either we weren’t advanced to understand and replicate it, or it simply didn’t happen in a large enough scale to be noticeable. Most of what landed was also almost completely wrecked, and didn’t have any functional technology. And since we lacked the expertise, we weren’t able to do anything with these wrecks. None of the general public knew about these wrecks. It was the least of our worries. But about 70 years ago, the wreck of a small starship, mostly intact, crash landed in one of the worlds most influential countries, the United States.” Harrington explained.

“The United States was in a Cold War with another major power on this planet. They didn’t want anything there to fall into hands of this other major power, the Soviet Union. So it was kept secret, but the technology was reverse engineered over time. More starships crashed as time went on, and some in countries allied to America. After a few decades of development, we started putting ships in space. Small ones, all of which have been retired. So did the Soviets, as they gained knowledge of the outside galaxy. But that country soon collapsed, and all the spacefaring nations of Earth entered into an alliance. We agreed to slowly and steadily integrate the technology we had discovered into everyday use, which had led to a number of innovations in the last few years. But we agreed to keep knowledge of the wider galaxy secret, at least for the time being. We also began setting up a small number of bases on other nearby worlds and expand military forces. Even though we were always limited by number of personnel that we could reasonably recruit, as recruiting was difficult do to our fleet being secret.” Harrington continued

Will picked up where he left off. “When the Empire came, we had less than half of the fleet we currently had. They came with a single Imperial Class Star Destroyer and a number of smaller ships. I was serving as the chief gunnery officer on one of our cruisers. We lured the Empire into the planet and launched primitive nuclear missiles at the Star Destroyer. Most didn’t penetrate the armor or shielding, but the ship lost thrust and crashed into the planet.”

“Will was in command of the cruiser and rammed that Star Destroyer, as it was going on a fly into a major city. That was very brave of him.” Harrington spoke up and Will turned a slight shade of pink. “We boarded that ship, repaired and raised it. This is that ship, the Impasseable. The Empire came three months after. But this time we were ready. We mined the exit to the only hyperspace route in, put turbolasers on a nearby planet and launched a starfighter strike. We crippled half of the Imperial fleet, and then you arrived.” Harrington finished.

“Most impressive. An example of solid defensive tactics.” Ackbar praised.

“They both came up with it.” Haffard said. 

“The rebellion values such skills. This planet would have a place in the Alliance if you wanted to do so.” Leia said.

“What would that entail?” Asked Harrington.

“It would be a bit complicated since you don’t have a single planetary government. But your government would become subservient to the Alliance provisional government and your military would be sent to where it was needed most…”  
Leia was unsure of what the response to this would be. 

“Princess, with all due respect, I doubt the people of Earth would not like to fight off one interplanetary government only to be annexed by another.” Will said bluntly. “However I am no politician, and therefore I don’t dictate the forign policy if this planet. Are there alternatives to downright annexation? If I am to be any judge, Earth is in a special position, unlike most other worlds you encounter.” Will was surprised with his fiery response.

“There are a number of other options. The most prominent being that this planet stayed separate from the Alliance, with a treaty of friendship. Many of the major worlds in the Alliance are semi-autonomous, and essentially separate in most ways except for foreign policy and military power.” Leia continued

“None of us are politicians. They will be the ones who will decide.” Haffard spoke up.

“Indeed.” Admiral Harrington looked slightly nervous, as he just wanted for good diplomatic relations to be made. “I have a question. How much do you know about us?” He looked at Ackbar and Leia. 

“There was a spy of ours aboard this ship when it was Imperial. He survived the battle here and escaped. It took him a while to get back to the rebellion. He told us about this planet, and he also had information gathered by Imperial Intelligence via probes about you. Seeing that you had hidden your fleet, and won against the Empire in battle, we wanted to find you and find out more. We got intelligence that the Empire had massed an unusually large force for the area nearby. Many in high command thought you were going to be attacked, so we sent this fleet to help. We also prepared to establish diplomatic relations and provide military aid.” Ackbar reported.

“Admiral, I mean no disrespect, but why did you come here yourself, the head of the Alliance Navy. Aren’t there plenty of other officers that could lead an expedition here.” Haffard asked.

“Well it was mostly just convenience. I was back from a major offensive to meet with high command when we learned about this place. Many of our high ranking officials took note of your victory, and that it was unusual. This planet is somewhat far from known space, so that means more strange things could happen in these parts. There have been rumors that the Empire has far flung bases and outposts, but we don’t know why.” Ackbar listed several reasons.

“Fascinating. Perhaps that explains the reason they sought out this planet. They might want to set up another one of those bases.” Will wondered aloud.

“Perhaps.” Leia said, her thoughts in another place. “I wish to meet some of your political leaders. Your insight has been valuable and I want to learn more about this planet. Can you provide me with that.”

“I will have it prepared. It is the least we can do for you.” Harrington said.

“But we did come here to help you. We brought a significant amount of supplies for you as well as experienced personnel. We wish to give your access to these resources.” Ackbar said.

“Of course. We three can’t thank you enough for what you did and are doing.”  
“The rebellion likes to help out those who need it. Especially those who can help us at a later date.” Leia said as everyone stood up.

Ackbar and the princess were led back to their ship and soon boarded it.  
“We definitely have started something. They seem like nice people.”  
“They are nice, however the Imperials were also nice when they came to Mon Cala.” Ackbar said cynically. “I do hope the rest of the planet is as good as them.”  
“Only time will tell. We can’t worry about the future right now. We need to focus on now, Admiral.” Leia said.

“A good tactician always thinks ahead Leia. And something tells me that diplomacy is quite similar to warfare.”

“I’ll get planning ahead then Admiral.”


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Paul Harrington looked tired to Will. He had been up for twenty hours straight. A big chunk of that was the battle and the meeting with the Alliance, but being the senior most Admiral in the fleet, he had been in constant contact with the political leaders of Earth. Will was sympathetic to the man for all that he had done, and for the lack of sleep he had gotten. Of course, all fleet personnel were trained to be able to stay awake for longer, but it was not an experience that most cared to repeat. Will was thankful that he at least had gotten some sleep.

“You wanted to see me sir.”

“Yes. I have some things the we need to discus with you.”

“Are you alright Admiral. Maybe you should get some rest.”

“I'll rest when the Emperor is dead and his fleet destroyed. But I will sleep soon.”

“So what has happened. Who is leading the fleet now?”

“The fleet is being completely reorganized. I’ll spare you all the bureaucratic shit and give you an overview. So we are now called the United Nations Spaceborne Navy. We’re in theory responsible to the UN Security Council, but it’s looking like the politicians are deciding that we will be responsible to only the Secretary General of the UN. He’ll be our commander in chief.” Harrington looked slightly disgusted. In the past, before the Empire came the fleet was in practice only responsible to itself. Will guessed that the man didn’t want to deal with politics, just defend the planet.

“So are we moving towards a one world government?”

“Ehh. All of the “defense of the planet” is being give to the UN. And that means literally anything that has to do with the planet’s defense. So they have a lot of power now. Oh, I forgot the fucking Secretary General is resigning.” He said casually as if describing a sports match. Which based on passed comments was probably how Harrington saw politics. 

“I mean he kinda sat around while we saved the day. Who is replacing him.”  
“No one knows. Frankly I’ve got better things to do now that I’m the Supreme Commander of the Navy.”

“Congratulations, supreme…”

“I’ll have you busted down to crewman 3rd class if you said that.” Will knew the man wouldn’t do that.”

“So how many Admirals actually survived from the Academy. Anything form there.”

“I’m afraid the search teams found no one. At least no one alive.”

“That’s unfortunate. There were a lot of good people there.”

“Most of them were thrown into space when we saw the Empire was coming. We needed anyone who could tell a power converter from an inertial compensator. There were just over a hundred left there who died. Including over ¾ th of our Admiralty. While it’s definitely unfortunate that those lives were lost, we need to focus on rebuilding our senior command staff. I need experienced officers to help lead this fleet.”

Will knew what was coming. “Who did you have in mind?”

“Captain Willam Johnson, you will be promoted to Vice Admiral.” A smile crept onto Harrington’s face. And before you ask, I’m skipping you over Vice Admiral.”

“You could say that I’m putting it behind me, Admiral.” 

“Ha ha. Very funny. And quit it with calling me Admiral in private. I’m ordering you to call me Paul.”

“So what exactly will I be doing, Paul.”

“Well, as the head of the Navy, I need someone to oversee direct operations of the fleet, especially when I’m planetside. A new position has been created, Director of Fleet Operations, second in command to me. You’ll be in that role, Will.”

“But sir, I’ve only been in two battles. And I’m not even 25! Admiralty is one thing, but I’m second in command to all the significant defenses on this planet!” Will exclaimed loudly.

“Will, you're the best person we’ve got. And I personally don’t know anyone better who could do it. There might be guys thirty years senior who have better administrative skills than you. But they don’t have the battle experience you do. And if you ask me, your one hell of a commander.” Harrington said in a both forceful but calm manner.

“If you insist sir.” Will said nervously. “Who else is becoming an Admiral. And who do we even have left?”

“Stanley Fisher was at Area 51 working on one of his projects. That crazy British guy will be the director of research and development.” That isolated base has been a valuable test site research facility since the fleet had begun. It had been a good think that fleet intel had dispersed any attempt to raid the facility when it had gained traction. “He messaged me saying that he wants to stay there and lead the department from there. I agree, as they have the facilities, and Fisher has always been a hands on man.”

Harrington cleared his throat and continued.

“Dimitri Alexandr was otherwise occupied as well. He’s the man for Intel.” Will had met the Russian man once before, and he seemed to be a cold, stoic officer who respected skill and adaptation. He had mostly been concerned with keeping info of the fleet from reaching the public before everything came out.

“Anna Moreau will be Chief Aide to the UN. She will be the fleet's eyes in government and advocate for our interests. Besides, it will keep here away from the eager officers men pestering her with cringey pickup lines.” The two laughed at that.

“I’d say that politicians will be more likely to go after her. They see more of her type.”

“That’s all that survived the attack. We never had a bloated command to begin with.”

“So who is joining us.”

“Valentina Rosa was the brainchild behind the flanking maneuver during the battle. She is the best person we have to command the smaller ships. Give her a squadron of frigates and gunships and she’ll probably take down a Star Destroyer.”

“From what I’ve heard, she’s very adamant about staying on a smaller ship.” Will said.

“Davis Stuart and Fei Hong are both good at commanding cruisers as shown recently in battle. Both of them are being promoted. Riko Yamamoto and Sohpie Jansen are both Destroyer captains and are a balance between Rosa and Stuart, and Hong.”

“That’s not an insignificant amount of Admirals. Are each of them going to have enough to command?”

“Look at how many ships we built in three months. And production wasn’t even fully standardized.”

“Fair point. Who’s going to command this ship.”

“I think Haffard is ready for it. He’s the logical choice.”

“What about the media. I don’t know if they will like an ex Imperial commanding our most powerful warship.”  
6  
“I don’t give a damn about what the media thinks. If he’s the best for the job, he’s the best for the job.”

“I concur, it is just something I think we should consider.”

“Only if it doesn’t get away from putting them best people where they need to be. On that note, Will, I am going to catch some sleep. Being an admiral now, I’m sure you have a lot to do.”

“I do. Good night Paul.” He said as he left the room.

Garnison II, Zoloch Sector 

Admiral Kumara Picot looked out of his window at the vast expanse of space. His seat on the Imperial space station GADP-7264 gave him quite a view of the several uninhabited planets in the star system. And of his fleet here. Only two Star Destroyers and some small craft sat guarding the system. 

He was upset, but his stoic, emotionless face didn’t show it. Made hadn’t reported in, and only a brief automated distress signal had come in several hours ago. Picot feared that the fleet had been destroyed. Perhaps the rebellion had gotten involved and sent aid. Speaking of rebels, the local rebel sector force had been causing trouble. No one knew where they were located, and how many ships they had in total. But it was less than two dozen, he was sure. They had destroyed one Star Destroyer and crippled another, as well as several smaller ships. The crippled one had to be scuttled a week later after an intense fire in the main reactor. 24 Star Destroyers had originally been assigned to this sector. The one that had been lost at the hands of Earth the first time the Empire attacked had been replaced. But thanks to the growing rebel threat elsewhere, like the Alliance’s and their rapid advance into the mid rim, he hadn’t been given anything else. He knew this left him in a dangerous position. With a third of his Star Destroyers gone, patrolling the sector would be difficult. Many of his stormtroopers were busy putting down local revolutions on the sector’s planets, protecting the important mining of raw materials and the Kuat, Blastec, and Sinear factors that brought a great many jobs to the sector. 

He thought it unwise to send a third expedition to Earth. He couldn’t risk losing more ships. He’d send a few probe droids, all prepared for long range assignments. He intended to spy on Earth and figure out what was happening on that mysterious planet. In the meantime, he would try to get reinforcements from one of the other sectors. 

The Impassable, above Earth.

Vice Admiral William Johnson walked briskly to main engineering. He had finished all others tasks that he needed to do, these primarily being signing off on small scale requests. He had also talked to Haffard, who was quite excited to be in command of the ship. 

In an official capacity, he was headed to engineering to get a more extensive report on the ship’s damage. Unofficially, he wanted to see the chief engineer, Allison Chipper. Though Will wouldn’t tell a soul, he had an ever growing crush on her. Will was not necessarily an introvert, but had made his duty the priority. This didn’t mean that Will didn’t have crushes, he actually had had one on her for a while. It had been a minor crush, and Will just had other things to do. 

But his perspective was changing. He found himself thinking of her more and more. Her looks, her charm, her personality. It was all attractive to Will. He pushed these thoughts aside as he entered main engineering and headed for her office. He could see engineering personnel hard at work, repairing the damage and maintaining the ship.

“Come in, oh hello Will. It’s good to see you.” She said as he entered the office and the door closed.

“It’s nice to see you as well. How are the repairs going.”

“We’re making progress. We should finish in 10 days at this rate.” 

“Good, I’m sure you can handle it.”

“Thank you, and congratulations on your promotion. Rumor tells me your second in command of this fleet now.”

Will rolled his eyes. “Yeah. I think it’s kinda crazy. I’m not even 25.”

“Well, we don’t have the decades of experience that the Imperial Navy has. Before the Empire came, we were only just finding our footing.”

“Yea, that’s true.”

“Oh, I’ve been promoted as well. I’m a captain now.”

“What are you gong to command?”

“Admiral Fisher is putting me in charge of a new project. I assume that you have a top secret clearance.”

“Yes I do.” Allison motioned him to come over as she opened her computer. After a little bit of digging, she found what she was looking for. It was a 3D schematic for a ship. It was longer than a Star Destroyer, at about 1800 meters in length , and at its maximum 3/4ths the width. It looked well armed, with dozens of guns visible, some being quite large.

“This is only one of the concepts. What Fisher wants is something we’ve never gotten close to making. A ship three times the size of the largest cruisers we’ve built. Something that can take on a Star Destroyer and win.”

“How long has this been in the works?” He asked in awe.

“For a few years there have been concepts for such ships. A few of my friends and I worked on them in our spare time on the Hallsey. But it a pipe dream back then. We didn’t have the expertise, manpower, and infrastructure to build anything of that size. Ackbar has taken a look at the design and apparently finds it intriguing. He decided to show one of his friends, the Alliance’s best starship designer General Walex Blissex. He thinks it has potential and is coming to help us. ”

“I’ve heard that name before. Wasn’t he an important ship designer?”

“He designed some of the most prominent Republic and early Imperial vessels. The Victory, Gladiator, Venator, Arqetens and many more. He defected to the Alliance and helped design some of their most important ships.”

“Wow. I don’t know if it’s just me but the Alliance is really trying to help us.”

“I think they see the value in us. I mean, we’ve come very far in such a small amount of time. I’m announcing all this during the big meeting tomorrow.”

“It’s going to be the first time I meet most of the new Admirals.” Will sighed. “Harrington decided to turn it into a damn social event. There is going to be reception afterwards.”

“Well it’s probably good that all the senior officers get to know each other. We’re all going to be working together a lot.” 

“I guess so. At least it ends early. And there isn’t a formal dinner. But I have to wear my dress uniform.”

“I’m sure you’ll look handsome there. There are female officers there.”

Will’s blushed. “Thank you. I think I have an idea of who I’m interested in.”

“It’s unfortunate that it ends early. I’ll have so much free time I won’t know what to do!” She exclaimed. Allison must be on to him. He decided to play on, 

“Well, um, we could have dinner in my quarters. I’m not busy either.” That was so not smooth, thought Will.

“I’d love to. What time?” 

“Um, uh, 1800. That’s a little after the meeting ends.” 

“Sounds good. How formal is it?” 

“Well um, I don’t know. You can wear whatever you want. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He said as he left for the door. His heart was racing. He hadn’t asked a girl out before. But despite his nervousness, inexperience, and downright cringyness, it had worked. Hopefully it would turn out ok. As he left the room, a few people looked at his reddened face. Within minutes, all sorts of rumors were flying across the ship. Many were pure speculation, but some theriorzed correctly that he had asked Allison out.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

A tired, but content Leia Organa walked through the white halls of Home One to her quarters. It had been a long day, full of discussions with top world leaders on Earth such as the new Secretary General. As expected, they were resistant to the idea of officially joining the Alliance. But they were interested in mutual cooperation.

It seemed odd that such a planet wouldn’t join the Alliance directly. Mutual cooperation between the two would be very one sided. The Alliance was simply much larger and controlled much more territory. But they had proven themselves in battle and were mobilizing rapidly. It would be only a matter of time in Leia’s opinion before they struck back against the Empire. 

“How were the talks, Princess.” Leia turned around to see Han Solo of all people.

“I’m making progress. They don’t want to directly join the Alliance.”

“There’s something special with this planet. It’s like every planet in the galaxy smacked into each other.”

“Well, that’s one way of putting it. Personally it’s nice not to be shot at for once.” Leia turned around to face him. “You disappeared for a while when I was talking with the Secretary General. Where were you.”

“I got talking with the head of security about guns. I got to shoot what on paper are primitive slugthrowers, but in reality, I was glad I was the one shooting it.”

“I’ll ask to shoot one when I’m there next. I’ve heard they are very loud and fast.”

“Just like yourself Princess.”

“Han what did you just say! I could bust you down to basic crewmen.”

“You’d bust me down because I told you the truth? Weren’t you the one trying to find the truth in the Imperial Senate?”

Leia rolled her eyes. She liked Han, but he could really get on her nerves.

“Alright, you win. I have to report to Senator Mothma about what happened down on Earth.”

“Good luck, Princess.”

After entering her quarters, Leia contacted Mothma on the central communications array. In moments, the blueish hologram of the rebel leader appeared.

“Hello Leia, I trust that you are well. How are they negotiations?”

“Well I’m making progress. This planet doesn’t want to join the rebellion outright. They want full sovereignty over their planet, and the systems around it.”

“As we both anticipated. Have they moved toward a unified planetary government?”

“There taking steps. All matters of war are being handled by the UN. They have gained much more influence over global affairs then the data files implied.”

“Without a more organized government, I fear that the cooperation between all the nations will only last so long. They can only prosper under a one world government. There is a reason that all of the major planets in the galaxy have a single government per planet.” Mothma said.

“Many nations are reluctant to give up their sovereignty, and so are their people. And Earth is incredibly diverse. As Han Solo out it, “There’s something special with this planet. It’s like every planet in the galaxy smacked into each other.”

“Amusing. I trust he has provided adequate security.”

“Personally, I’m still confused why you wanted him to come with me. Aren’t there better security guards.”

“Perhaps there are. But Han is accustomed to your ways. And I’m sure he would give his life for you in a second if it was required.”

“Well, he is useful. And that scruffy nerf herder has helped get me out of several nasty situations.”

“On another note, what exactly does Earth want from us.” Mothma changed the subject.

“Well from what I understand, to fight alongside us but on their terms. They are also interested in some scientific and military advisers to briefly help them.”

“Something that can be arranged. We will give them that, and potentially more. With some development, they can be an effective, if only regional ally. But there is a price. They must move to a worldwide stable democratic government under our guidance.”

“But what right do we have to spread our ideas to other planets. They should be free to choose what they want to do.” Leia protested.

“They are free. But if they reject our offer, we will not grant them any help. We are doing it for the best of them.”

“That is the same logic of the Empire!”

“The logic if the Empire is to conquer if a planet does not bow to them. And we will not frame it as such. Instead, we will simply be helping them to advance and grow as a species.”

“Alright. I see the famous idealism of Mon Mothma at work.” Leia said sarcastically. 

“We must make difficult choices to insure the freedom of the galaxy. What we are doing is simply part of the art of diplomacy. As a matter of fact and a gesture of goodwill, I wish to come to facilitate the negotiations directly. I will leave in a few days.” 

“Are you sure it’s necessary, Mon. You are the leader of the rebellion.”

“It will ensure we have positive relations. Tell them that I will arrive in two days for an official state visit, and continue the negotiations. Do not commit to anything, and do your best to learn more about them.”

“Alright, if you say so. I will let them know.”

“Good day, Leia. I hope to see you soon.”  
“Good night, Mon. I’m need some sleep.”

The Impassable 

It took only a few moments for the Admirals, Generals, and other advisors and senior personnel to find their seats around the long table. The stateroom had been fitted for a large table for such an important occasion.

“Hello everyone. We’re all here because we play an important role in leading the defense of this planet. All of us will discuss the state of our defenses, and are capabilities and strategy going forward. First I’d like to start by hearing Rear Admiral Fei Hong, who is currently overseeing the planetary defenses of Earth and the rest of the solar system.” Harrington announced in a loud voice.

“Well sir, we have 50 planetary turbolasers operational and another 20 in various stages of construction. All of our guns on Mars were destroyed in the battle. It will be difficult to build them there, but they present an obstacle to any invading force.”

“What about a ground invasion. How can we defend against one of those.”

“Well sir, there are over 20 million soldiers and an untold massive number of armed civilians down there. The United States, as I understand, has a gun under every pillow.” This was met with a few chuckles. “The Empire would not spare resources for such a costly invasion. Orbital bombardment is much more likely, perhaps to devastate major cities to force a surrender. But I think that we are a low priority for the Empire at the moment.”

“If that changes, we will have built up our defenses up more. Let's move on to intelligence. Dimitri Alexandr, what are our capabilities currently in that field.” Harrington asked.

The Russian Admiral and Chief of Naval Intelligence coughed slightly before starting. “Well, we have sophisticated counter intelligence capabilities. We can easily track down any Imperial spy who makes it past our orbital detection arrays and sensors, but we lack capabilities to operate in Imperial space currently. Our operatives were trained to enforce the secret of our existence before the Empire came, however the need for that is now gone. We could theoretically deploy operatives with the help of the Alliance, and perhaps gain some insight from them. But until then we lack the ability to gather information about the Empire independently.”

“We will make intelligence cooperation a part of our talks with the Alliance. Now, Major General Abicus Grant, what of our land forces.” 

“As was pointed out, there are millions of soldiers in conventional armies. And while they can be effective against the much more advanced forces of the Empire, they are not ideal. They will be effective in the defense of this planet, but little else. The new Combined Army of Earth has only 50000 troops, but all are well equipped with modern blaster rifles and plastoid armor. They are also well trained, as many of the best soldiers from around the world are in these units. We have the manpower and we’ll trained soldiers across the world who need only small updates in their training to account for the new way of warfare. But while we have the manpower to field millions of soldiers, we do not have the modern equipment.” 

The new leader of the Combined Army of Earth caught his breath. “And while these soldiers are well trained, they lack numbers of armored vehicles and artillery. Some have been captured from the Empire, as well as a large quantity of small arms. But that said, we are not ready for a large-scale offensive yet. Neither are the Marines, who currently don’t have a commander, as I was theirs before this post. They are in a much similar state, but number in only 20,000.”

“Thank you for your participation in this meeting, as being the head of the army, you are in theory equal to me. I trust you will address those concerns.” Harrington continued.

“I am already doing so. But we need to know want direction the Navy will go. Are you focusing on planetary defense above all else? Are you playing an offensive into Imperial space? If you are, Will any ground invasions or occupations be necessary?” The General asked. 

“That will be decided soon. Admiral Fisher, I hear there is more to report in Engineering as it relates to new ship classes.”

“Well sir, we’ve been up to a lot recently. I’d like to let Captain Chipper take the lead on this one. She is the head of this new design program.” Fisher replied in his pompous British accent. A large screen came to life, displaying the various new starships.

“Well, we’ve had plenty of concepts in the works for a while now. Some were created by engineers like me in our free time as a thought experiment. Others are improvements on existing designs taking into consideration after action reports and accounts of the various crew members. These designs aren’t final of course. A much more experienced Alliance engineering team is on its way, and will help us argument the designs.” She tapped a button and a new screen appeared. Will saw that it was the same large ship she had shown him yesterday.

“This is the most important of the new designs. It’s designed to be able to face a Star Destroyer and win. It’s still in its early stages, but expect more shortly.”

There were various other discussions about other topics related to the war effort. It was also decided that for the mean time. Earth would take a defensive stance for the mean time until their forces could be built up. 

Will waited in his quarters nervously. Allison would be here any minute. He had ironed his dress uniform and polished his shoes extra for this occasion.

The door chimed. Someone was requesting to come in.

“Come in.”

In stepped Allison. She was wearing a red dress that showed off much of her upper body. Will was definitely taken aback.

“You look beautiful Allison. He blurted out.

“Thank you Will, you don’t look shabby yourself.”

The two sat down at the small table to eat. 

“Where did you get this? Doesn’t seem like something the chef would cook.”  
Will chuckled. “Being an Admiral has some perks.”  
“How are you finding it. Being an Admiral.”  
“Sometimes I wish I wasn’t. It’s a lot of responsibility.”  
“That makes sense. You're basically second in command of the fleet.”  
“Yeah. I’m not sure if I’m ready for it. Or if I ever will.” Will said solemnly.   
“I don’t think we were ready the first time the Empire came. And look what we did.” Allison was trying to cheer him up.  
“I guess. But Harrington handles everything so well. And what if he dies. He’s made the indication that I will be in command of the fleet. I can’t handle that.”  
“You can handle a lot more than you think, Will. Don’t underestimate how much you have done for us.”   
“I wish the press didn't run stories on me all the time. I was just doing my job. Maybe I saved the world and a bunch of people. But it was only my duty.”  
“Will, it is a big deal. You saved many people in both battles. I can’t say for certain, but you may have very well stopped an eventual Imperial occupation. It’s better than them criticizing you. And with all of this positive attention, you could have a bright future after we win the war.”  
“I don’t think we can win against the Empire. They have over 25000 Star Destroyers, and probably over a million other various ships.”  
“If we think like that Will, we lose before we even start. And even if we lose in the long run, we’ll make sure that we hurt the Empire as much as possible.”  
“Your right, Allison.”  
They moved on to other topics, including the new ships Allison was helping design and plenty of other things. After they were done with the food, the two sat and continued talking on the couch.

“Well, I’m sure that Fisher has all the tea he could ever want.” The two laughed. Will caught himself looking at her more and more as the night went on. 

“Allison, thank you for all you’ve done to me.” Will paused, unsure of what to say next.

“No worries Will. It’s nothing really.”

“Yes it is. You really made me think about my outlook on my position.” Both of them were staring at each other now. This was the right time to make a move.

Without much thought, Will leaned over and kissed her. She didn’t resist, and in fact leaned in closer. When they parted, Will was nervous. How would she react now?

“Uhh, sorry. I didn’t know what got into me.” He said uneasily.  
“Don’t be sorry, I liked it.” She said and got up. “But I have to go now.”

Will led her to the door and they kissed again. After a quick goodbye, she departed the room. Will was wondering what exactly had happened. But the same methods for analyzing battles didn’t work. This was something totally different, something that couldn’t be rationalized. Will was in love, for the first time in his life. 

And it felt great.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

The MC80 Star Cruisers Independence, Diligence, and Perseverance exited hyperspace near Mars, with a group of transports and escorting frigates and corvettes. About half of the rebel ships that originally fought in the Second Battle of Earth had returned to rebel space, however Home One and two other Star Cruises remained in Earth's orbit. 

The Independence carried Senator Mon Mothma, the lease of the Rebel Alliance. Many were still confused as to why she had come, and why the Alliance had such an interest in this planet. Questions that would most likely be answered in the various diplomatic meetings to come.

Aboard the Impassable, Will entered the office of Admiral Harrington.

“Admiral, I’ve reviewed the various requests the other Admirals put in for the Alliance. But there were a few that I think we should both look at.” Will eagerly told him.

“Be my guest Will.” Harrington replied.

It didn’t take them long to figure out what requests to present to the Alliance. There were multiple levels of priority that would be presented to Mothma.

“You're in good spirits today, Will. Has something gotten into you.” Harrington asked as they were finishing up.  
“Well sir I had a friend over last night that made me re-examine my outlook on life and my position.”  
“I vaguely remember someone entering your quarters last night.” Harrington said and Will tensed slightly.  
Harrington chuckled. “Don’t worry Will. Whatever happened in there is definitely helping you. I’d continue on if I was with you.”  
“I’ll take note of that. With everything else we have done to prepare, I think we’re as ready as we’ll ever be for this meeting.”  
“I hope so Will. The Alliance has been helping us a lot. I hope we can keep it that way.”

Several hours later, the two awaited their chance to meet the leader of the rebellion at the UN headquarters in New York. The Secretary General, Albert Pierre had decided the military's requests would be handled entirely by the military. At first, Harrington had been skeptical of him. He was skeptical of all politicians, but Pierre was different. He was an internationally recognized political strategist who had helped dozens of campaigns across the world. This had given him a vast network of connections that helped him land this job after the last Secretary General resigned. 

In his first meeting between him and Harrington, he assured him that he would leave military matters up to him, and give him whatever he needed to defend Earth. In Harrington’s opinion, there were too many times that politics had ruined effective war from being waged. Some would argue that Harrington had too much power in deciding civilian affairs. This could lead to abuse of power and corruption. That might be a valid point, and it would certainly be a much larger concern if someone other than Harrington. But the Commander of Earth’s space forces had little consideration of personal wants, only of his duty to protect the planet. 

The door opened and Pierre emerged. 

“I trust you two Admirals are well.” He said as he entered.  
“Yes, Mr Secretary.” They both responded.   
“I’ve made progress with Senator Mothma, but so far we’ve done little but exchange pleasantries. I and my support team have no idea what she wants. The traditional negotiators are dumbfounded.”

“We have our list. Nothing’s changed since we sent it to you.”  
“Good. Let’s begin.” Pierre said as the three of them entered the room together. 

On one side of the room were several chairs filled with top diplomatic personnel of the UN and several major countries. On the other side were only a few people, Leia, and her diplomatic team along with a few others neither Harrington nor Will recognizes. In the center was an auburn haired,white robed woman. That must be Mon Mothma. Now, Will hoped that they would finally understand the reason the Alliance was paying so much attention to this small planet. 

“I must introduce two of our senior most military personnel on this planet, Admirals Paul Harrington and William Johnson.” Pierre said.

“It is an honor to meet you both. I have heard much of your skill and success in battle against the Empire.” Mothma got up and shook both of their hands.

“Thank you Senator. We are honored to host the Alliance here on Earth.”  
An aide handed Mothma and her staff a number of tablets. 

“These have the Military’s requests.” Pierre explained.   
Mothma looked briefly at the requests. “I will approve them on one condition. That several governmental representatives of the Alliance come here to advance our interests. They will assist you in moving towards a full planetary government and assist you in other regards. They will also insure that you do not reach out to the Empire.”

“Will this impure out sovereignty?” Pierre asked.

“It will, in fact further it. It will help to increase the legitimacy of this interplanetary organization and form it into a government.” 

“But what is in it for you? I do not understand the logic of this proposal.” Said one diplomat from Earth, an older man in his 70’s.

“It will gain the Alliance an ally that has, despite a small size and inexperience, proved itself in battle on two occasions. While we are on the offensive now, the Empire has more ships, men, and a much larger industrial base. We need all the help we can get, especially help that has stood up to the Empire successfully. The nearby Imperial sector has not been an Alliance priority, but is only lightly defended. When you are sufficiently ready, the Alliance encourages you to attack it.”

“We will discuss this privately.” Pierre said as the diplomatic team and the two Admirals went into another room. 

In moments, a decision was reached. There was some opposition, but the majority believed the treaty should be accepted, including the two Admirals. Pierre, who had the sole authority to decide, wanted to accept the treaty.

The group soon returned to the main room.

“Senator, I have made the decision to accept the treaty. I believe this will be a historic milestone between us.”

“I concur. The Alliance is grateful for any help it can receive.” Mothma said.

The Impassable 

Captain Allison Chipper stood awaiting the arrival of a special guest in the special research offices. This area had once been filled with quarters for low level enlisted personnel in the Imperial Navy. An Imperial I class Star Destroyer had a complement of almost 50 thousand personnel. But thanks to automation, that had been reduced to about 15,000 officers and enlisted, with a few thousand marines. There was now much more room, even though almost all of the remaining crew quarters had been expanded.

With new command and research facilities under construction on the planet, Allison had taken this space over to be used for designing the new ships of the fleet modernization program. Dozens of engineers and scientists were working on computers or other complex machines.

Flanked by two marines, an aging man stepped into the room. It was General Walex Blissex, the Alliance's top starship designer.

“Captain Chipper, I presume.” He held out a hand and Allison shook it.

“That’s me. Are you General Blissex?”

“Yes.” He pulled out a datapad and brought up schematics of the most important of the new ships being designed.

“It’s an impressive design. Especially considering that your world has no contact with the outside galaxy.”

“For decades, we observed starship designs and learned from them. Some of the first ships we built were modified versions of vessels in the wider galaxy. But as time went on, we advanced.”

“Indeed. I made several modifications to this ship. I’m sure you will want to see them.”

“Of course. Take a seat.”

The two spent several hours looking at and modifying all of the designs, but mostly the largest. Blissex was surprised at the young woman's skills, especially since she had only recently become a starship designer. 

“This design has potential. I think with some more work we can make this into a rival to a Star Destroyer.” Blissex said.

“But some of these materials Earth doesn't have enough of to even build one ship.” Alison said. “The only pressurized handgridion we have is from the salvaged Star Destroyers. And there is plenty of Filgyuim in a nearby system we charted, but we lack the ability to refine it.”

“The Alliance should be able to provide all that you need. I’m sure some can be spared.”

“Thank you. Are you sure it is not too much to ask?”

“Not at all. I spoke to Mothma, and if you want, I’ll stay the week and help you with this design. I’m curious to see how this turns out.”

“Thank you. That’s very nice of you.”

“It is in the Alliance’s best interests to help your planet fight the Empire. However, on a personal note, I am impressed on how well these ships are designed. Earth lacked any direct communications with the outside galaxy and developed starships that won against the Empire. That is something few, if any planets have ever done.


	19. Epilogue

Authors note: this is the last chapter. I’ll be going back to school soon, and won’t have as much time. But a sequel and several other new fics are in the works. Thank you all for the support you have given me.

Epilogue

3 months later:

“It looks beautiful, doesn’t it.” Allison and Will stared out at the new ship out the window, transports and shuttles buzzing around it to load supplies. 

“Well you designed it. Therefore, I agree.” He squeezed her hand.

The new Revenge Class Battleships was 1800 meters long and about 400 meters wide at its longest point. The ship was armed with over 200 turbolasers, ion cannons, laser cannons, and missile launchers, more than a match for any Star Destroyer in the Imperial Navy. It’s shielding and armor was also top notch, and could withstand incredible amounts of firepower. It also carried over a hundred starfighters and dozens of other small craft, as well as several thousand marines.

“We couldn’t have done it without the Alliance’s help. It wouldn’t exist without them.”

“Blissex and his men really helped. So did the supplies that the Rebellion provided. Hopefully it’s first mission will be a success.”

“Well you're leading it, so it better be a success.” She said teasingly.

The maiden voyage of the Revenge would be to attack a modest sized Imperial convoy. Within this convoy was an Interdictor Cruiser, that was equipped with gravity well generators that could prevent ships from entering hyperspace and pull ones out of hyperspace. Capturing it would be essential to the upcoming offensive, and it would be an effective test for the new ship and her crew. While it would be supported by an additional fleet, this mission would be mainly a test of this new ship. Already, the hulls to three more were being laced down, and the battle would test out all of the ship’s kinks, so improvements could be made. 

“It’s only the beginning. When we walk out there, into the known galaxy, our planet will change. Maybe it is better to stay here and not draw attention to ourselves.”

“And risk the support of the Alliance. They have given us so much, and besides we have a commitment to them.” Allison said.

“Your right.” Will said. “I just wish that none of this had ever happened sometimes. We’re now going to be fighting a war far from home, against a superior enemy.”

“I agree. I wish we weren’t doing this. But I’d rather fight the Empire on our terms, instead of waiting for them to come back.” She said.

The mission to raid the Imperial convoy would be only the beginning of a larger offensive into Improved space. Details were still not specific, but the goal would be to advance to and capture the Garnison system, a major industrial and mining world in the sector and the headquarters of Imperial sector operations as well. 

“Admiral Johnson and Captain Chipper, your shuttle is ready.” A voice could be heard over the intercom

“On our way.” Will said as the two walked out to be taken to the new ship. A ship that could push the Empire back and win the war


End file.
